Wanderers of Remnant
by runicwolf
Summary: A mysterious girl with strange powers who wants to explore Remnant, a wandering dust user who is curious about the world, a nomadic hunter who has hunting in her blood, and a weapons maker who just wants to do business. 4 vastly different characters who wander, when together, what happens between them?
1. Chapter 1: Winter

**Hello there. Author here. This is my first story on this site and my first time I'm using the system. I hope you enjoy my story.**

The world of Remnant...A land where mankind has been pushed to the brink of extinction. Grimm, horrendous creatures with countless numbers are the grand nemesis of the remainder of humanity and the Faunus. Despite the advancements of mankind with well-developed weaponry, advanced technology, and a growing force of hunters and huntresses, the situation does not seem to become better, even if there is peace.

That peace, does not stay forever.

Since the beginning of mankind walking the earth, there were Grimm. Though the people were weak, dust is what saved them all from truly dying out. After so long, how many of the original Grimm do you think survives to this day?...Such a frightening thought, no? As Grimm age, their strength and wisdom broadens. How would an ancient Grimm's power be against the hunters of today, I wonder? And what about the moon...How did it shatter? And dust...If early man obtained dust so easily, why would there be such a large, single mining company obtaining dust? Production? Efficiency? Technological advancement? Greed?...Dust may be a natural resource...But is it really an infinite resource?...

Ah, I think I'm looking far beyond my own insight...

Heh, heh, heh...I wouldn't know all the answers, but I do know this. We, human and Faunus, have to prepare for the worst, and work together.

Otherwise...We all finally die...but...To what?

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In a place, not of the 4 grand kingdoms of remnant, there was a young, small child peacefully sleeping in the middle of a vast black wood forest that was blanketed by white snow. This child had ghostly white pale skin and wore a knee-length black dress that seemingly devours light itself, long black socks, black long gloves, black buckle-strap shoes, and she had on a partial mask which resembles a Grimm that only covers the left side of her face. Her hair was pitch black and was long enough for it to run down her back and her bangs grew out over her left eye as well. She was covered lightly in snow and the weapon she wielded was stuck into the ground by the bottom of it. This weapon was a long black scythe type weapon with a long beak on the opposing side of the blade and a long triangular spike at the end of it. It had no other attachments other than the broad pyramid spike the the other end of the shaft, which is holding up the scythe.

Somehow, despite the forest being infested with Grimm, particularly werewolf-like Grimm, none of them attacked her. If anything, some did come close to her, but then ran off quickly in a fright. As if some mysterious force was about to lay hell upon their being. From time to time, this woman would twist, turn, and move around in her sleep. It is quite surprising how long this person slept, it would be considered a world record breaker.

Eventually, a random stranger was walking through the woods, in curiosity of the odd behavior of the Grimm. This man donned on a long gray cloak and what was visible were his gray boots made for the winter land, gray cargo pants, gray long sleeve shirt, thick-looking dark Gray gloves and he had on a light-brown wooden mask that had thin slits from where he could barely see through. Even though he entered on account of odd Grimm behavior, there was a powerful presence that branched out quite a ways around the entire forest. He wanted to know what it was, on account of foolish curiosity.

After wandering around the area, glancing around the treeline and eyeing the predators. He wondered, 'Why aren't they attacking?' The man held his head down a little further 'Typically, they would all rush in and overwhelm me with pure brute force and numbers' As he continued walking, he followed the concentration of the presence he felt until he made it to the small woman.

He knelled down and did a search around her body with his aura. Though the mask covered his eyes, his pupils widened far as he retracted his whole body back "I can't feel this person's aura" Under the impression that it was an unfortunate soul who fell victim to Grimm, despite his own observation of no visible battle wounds or even blood, he was cleaning off the snow off of her when she suddenly sprang up from her dead slumber, completely catching the man off guard and forcing him into the snow. "What in the seven hells?" Typically, a person would have a more surprised tone, but this person had a bit of a controlled, lackluster speech pattern...With a colorful choice of wording.

This mysterious female turned on her heels, leaned in forward, and pulled out her hand "Hi there mister~" In a sweet tone and a cute smile, the man responded by grabbed her hand in which he noticed the difference in size between him and the little lady...She was quite short, the man wasn't even that tall. He breathed in and out heavily before he spoke out,

"Why in the name of Remnant are you sleeping in a forest of Grimm?" The child looked at him, still smiling, contemplating an answer, before...

"Because I can~" She said playfully as she grabbed her scythe and slung it over her shoulder "I thank you for arriving, I was waiting for someone strong enough to come by this place for quite a while" The man was confused,

"For what purpose could you possibly have the need to sleep in a Grimm forest?!" The girl turned around and was just haphazardly walking in a seemingly random direction in the path. She turned her head back,

"I wanted to have interesting people on my merry band of adventurers!" She childishly stated as she continued onward with a now exaggerated march...Until she stopped doing so on account of how awkward it was to walk like that. The man followed the woman merely on his interest on her lack of aura, plus the seemingly high aversion other Grimm have of her.

"Oh right!" She clapped her hands together and turned around "What is your name?"

"...My name is Lloyd Brenin, what is yours little lady?" Her night-sky black eye seemed to have a tint suddenly flash on them as she moved her left arm across her small chest and her right hand pressed against her chin.

"Calling me little lady, I feel so...Elegant and classy" She imagined herself as some sort of royal princess...That carried a scythe around with her. Then her mind returned back to reality "Oh, my name is Ciara...Just Ciara...Now..." She pointed her scythe in a random direction, straight to the air, and yelled out "To adventure!" Lloyd was absolute appalled by the girl's lack of and sense of danger, her personality, and her wishes to traverse the world. He wondered, as he followed the small lady, 'Who is she exactly?' He returned his gaze at the scythe, the Grimm around, and his own experiences in the past. 'How powerful is this child?' He recalled the mask she wore 'Is there something under that mask?' Without any question, Lloyd willing followed the little girl.

The both of them had gone out of the forest and into the open, dangerous, yet beautiful world...

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...

While wandering around on foot from the forest, the area had now turned a bit flat and hilly, with trees strewn about here and there and a forest was in their current view. Somehow, the both of them weren't even remotely fatigued from walking the entire time. Ciara especially, considering she was humming some sort of high-spirited tune. The girl turned her head around while still walking, "What do you do for a living?" She questioned as Lloyd cracked his neck,

"In a way, a scientist and a wanderer..." Lloyd was now contemplating what question to ask Ciara, "Ah, what would you have done if I hadn't come along?" The well-dressed female shrugged her shoulders and continued on her merry tune. '...Wait are you telling me that she actually-'

"Maybe..." Ciara broke the gray-man's thinking process "I would have moved somewhere else to get an ally" She put both her hands behind her head "A bar is a place where you can get mercenaries, right?" Lloyd stared at her blankly,

'What kind of novels have you been reading?' Then he corrected part of his thought process 'Well...Actually, you probably can, but who can take you seriously?...That is unless you beat them down...' At one point, he said part of his thoughts out loud, though under his breath, it was still audible to Ciara, "Who would want to follow you?" This caused her to stopped immediately and turn around 'This better not end up as-'

"Said the man who is following a little girl~" She quipped and slightly grinned as she continued on walking towards some destination.

"Do you even know where we are going?" The masked man questioned and the girl looked up at him,

"We're going to vale"

"Ah okay" After a bit of time has gone passed, the black dressed female said,

"Do you know where vale is?" She innocently questioned which made Lloyd completely stop in his tracks and face palm himself

'Oh this is just fantastic...' Then he realized something himself 'I got lost as well and didn't notice'

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...

Eventually, after back tracking, retracing, and looking at the broken moon and stars above, the unlikely traveling pair had somehow made it to Vale in one piece, with extra equipment to boot. And by extra equipment, I mean that Lloyd is carrying a huge backpack on his back which looked like it could cause instant spine realignment. He breathed in heavily and took in the air of civilization and basked in the sound pollution that came with it...Which wasn't that significant, but it was still somewhat enjoyable if the only sounds one heard was silence, wind, and Grimm.

Though in comparison, Ciara's clear-cut interest in the city itself was very apparent in her eye...and the fact she was running around the entirety of the city just to take in the sights alone. Unfortunately for Lloyd, this meant that he had to lug around a backpack that counted as 2 people while trying to keep up with a hyper-active child with seemingly unlimited stamina.

At one point, the half-masked girl had finally stopped her sight-seeing and was now interested in indulging in one of Vale's establishments. While she looking around the immediate area, Lloyd had barely caught of with her while completely in a daze and falling over due to exhaustion. With the weight of the 2 person backpack on him, the cloaked man was practically crushed against the pavement.

When Ciara was looking at nearby buildings, she saw one which resembled that of a bar with the sign above it reading out, 'Errante Bar' "Ah! It's a bar" She began to skip over there when she quickly turned around, "If you don't mind Lloyd, I'll be trying out the drinks!" Immediately knocking him out of his daze, this sudden proclamation caused him to immediately stand up and run after Ciara. Unfortunately for him this was real life and he couldn't have just gotten an instant stamina boost, unless it were adrenaline. He was practically staggering after the girl when she made her loud entrance into the bar.

...

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...

"Hey, can I tell you a tale I've heard?" Inside the tavern, there was a white wolf female faunus sitting in the corner of the room with another man who looked about as reliable as a person named "honest tom". This woman wore a wander/ duster type clothing with a worn brown duster coat, brown loose pants and boots, black fingerless gloves and tricorn hat. She also had a sturdy-looking black backpack at her side along with a somewhat long black metal quarter staff she held at all times. With this equipment, her pure short white hair and pale green-blue tinted eyes popped out very well. Another thing to note was her seemingly lack of breasts.

This woman was leaning back against the chair and cracked her neck,

"Is it a load of bullshit?" The woman roughly said and the man shaked his head,

"No no no, trust me, this is the real deal" The woman pulled out what appeared to be wheat from the pockets of her coat and inserted it into her mouth,

"Ya' sure? Last time ya told me info, I almost died" She said threateningly as she leaned in, the man to sweat bullets and to raise his hands close to him in defense and for space,

"Okay, I swear!" Then he noticed what her sentence said last "Wait, almost die? Now I know that-"  
"Don't change the subject"

"Alrighty, sorry for wasting time (Jeez, how am I supposed to know there were supposed to be several armies worth of enemies there)...Now you wanted to know someone strong you can fight?"

"Yes" The man had to research his mind for any people strong enough to fight the wolf faunus. He didn't want to have this person accidentally kill off someone particularly famous or in power, god knows how much hell that would bring for mankind...Then an idea popped into his mind, indicated by his fingers snapping "Have you ever fought a master of dust?" The woman's ears perked up and she leaned in forward

"A master of dust?" The man leaned in forward for effect

"Aye, the king of Gray, the man who is a living dust conduit and is said to manipulate the weather itself...His name- oh wait I should give you a picture of-" Then suddenly, someone bust through the doors. An energetic looking black dressed young lady holding a scythe came in.

"Hello everyone!" Everyone looked at the child dumfoundedly, wondering who in the world she was and where her parents are. "Is there any strong people here?! And can I get a d-" Then a taller gentlemen in a gray cloak with huge backpack came limping behind her, breathing heavily.

"Hah-Hah...You...You are too young to drink alcohol!" Then he was seen dragging her out by the arms, though poorly due to his condition "Now let's go somewhere else"

"But I'm older than you!" Lloyd looked back at her  
"You don't even know how old I am!"

"I know I'm older than you!"

"That's physically impossible!" 'Unless you're some immortal, but I have never heard of someone like that before' Lloyd thought. The pair were fully out of view of the bar patrons and peace had returned to the establishment.

'Okay...' The faunus thought 'That was unusual' That was when she noticed the way her partner was staring. The man who was talking with the white wolf faunus had his eyes widened and mouth agape. The man he was talking about came through the door with a little girl...Out of all of the people who had to arrive like a deux machina, it had to be that man. Unfortunately, he was bad at that moment of containing his shock as the woman looked at the man with a toothy grin

"It's that man eh?" She jumped up from her chair, and in a blaze of newfound energy, she ran to catch up to the dust user. The man just sat there, mouth still agape and eyes still widened, he dug his face into his hands as he cried out

"We are all going to die!" All of the bar patrons looked at the man, wondering what is going on this time "Alva Adalwolfa The Winter Hunter is on the hunt!" Everyone who even knew her stared in shock as they all prepared for the worst that may drag them into the mix "She's fighting Gray King Lloyd!" Everyone then proceeded to evacuate the area in record time.

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A man was working on a weapon project on his anvil and worktable in a rustic styled weapons shop. The shelves were filled with various types of trick weaponry, dust ammunition, dust infused armors and standard armors, and pure dust lined up everywhere possible without cluttering the place and somehow maintaining an organized shop. This smith was a good sized man with an impressive build on him. His skin is tanned, he has short silver hair and eyes, of course, he is in his work outfit, a thick and sturdy garb of a brown blacksmith apron, long sleeved loose tan shirt, and sturdy jeans along with black boots and work gloves, along with the welding mask.

He was doing precise, delicate work, while alternating between the worktable and anvil, when a panicked civilian slammed through his door, panting and out of breathe, and peeving off the blacksmith 'Damn, I forgot to lock the door'

"Nuada-!" Before he could even begin, Nuada threw a wrench that barely missed the man's skull and went across the street and was stuck into the opposite wall. The blacksmith cracked his head several times as he did an intimidating and absurd head tilt while looking at the man,

"You better have a good explanation for interrupting me" His voice was that of a demon and the man practically pooped his pants and wore it as a badge of honor for not dying.

"N-n-n-nu-" Nuada slammed his fist into the anvil, breaking it slightly, and then he realized he had hit the anvil. He held his hands to his temples,

"Crap crap crap! Wrong object!" The civilian cleared his throat, and with no fear, he declared,

"Alva is on the hunt!" The blacksmith looked at him confused,

"Who the hell is Alva?"

"And she is about to fight Lloyd, the gray king!"  
"Who the hell is Lloyd?! And king?! Is he a royal?!" He contemplated on how he can do business with a king, and then he realized what kind of king would exist in the world he resides in. In which case, he disappointed himself. The civilian stood there for a tiny bit before exclaiming,

"We will give you compensation for-" The word compensation was the magic word as the blacksmith immediately went to his back room and came out carrying a giant cross, bigger than the man himself, that was wrapped in thick tan cloth and some sort of buckle straps.

"Where are these children who are all over the shop!" He had said this statement in some sort of...Irish accent, for some reason.

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Slowly but surely, Lloyd had gotten Ciara to a sweets shop. Both of them sat down with Lloyd's overbearing backpack hitting the ground with a loud resonating thud. As part the usual, the orders were taken and Lloyd was resting his entire body due to the strenuous carrying he had to do. While he was resting, Alva the hunter was nearby watching the two of them, 'I wonder how strong that dust user is...Wait who's that little girl? She seems...A bit off' Then somewhere hidden in an alley which is nearby the others, the civilian who had gotten Nuada had led him to the possible fighting area that may occur. Then he scampered off somewhere far away as Nuada just sat in the alley awaiting the fight to begin,

'Do these people have radar? How did that man manage to properly lead me to my targets?...Well, no matter' The welding-masked man adjusted the dust ammunition in his cross. 'When the battle starts, I will show those known, unknown famous people my dear dust'

 **Incoming battle sequence next chapter. Will I be consistent with this story? Hopefully so. But if I'm not...I blame life.**


	2. Chapter 2: Companions

**Author here...In all honesty, I have nothing much to say. Hope you are enjoying the story**

* * *

Many different people live in this little world of ours...Some are born leaders, some natural fighters, others with the strength of a thousand and others with the strength of a lesser man. Somewhat like how our aura's work, each one being unique to their own wielders inner strength, though some tend to be similar in some fashion. As such, one's semblance will be created.

How does one discover their semblance?...Well, from experience and observation, semblance comes from a person's personality, emotions, and their own story. So...Is it possible for someone's semblance to change overtime?...Possibly...If their personality changes drastically enough.

Aura...it is a manifestation of the soul. It runs through every single living thing on Remnant and can be unlocked by...certain methods. Now, I wonder why Grimm only attack Human's and faunus...Is it the difference in Aura ability or concentration? Maybe we are more of a threat...

...What would be the limit to how much Aura a person can wield? And how much influence can said powerful aura have on the world around us?

...

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Lloyd had successfully brought Ciara into the sweets shop where there were a few groups of people enjoying nice chats and talks and single people who appeared to be either grieving over personal matters or just wanted to satiate their sweet tooth's. What bewildered Lloyd was how Ciara was staring at the large bowl of strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate ice-cream. To him, from the glint of her night-sky eyes, it appeared like Ciara has never seen ice cream before. She picked up the spoon, dug into the bowl of ice cream, taking out quite a large chunk of it, and immediately fell over in some sort of excitement, quite obvious by her bright and smiling expression.

"Ah~This is so good!" She said out loud as she took another chunk of ice cream "It's a good thing I found this!" Then she corrected herself and pointed her spoon at Lloyd, "Sorry, I thank you for bringing me to eat ice cream" Then she continued to eat without a care.

The gray-cloaked man, despite being tired, took mental notes on what he knew of the girl and other viable information, plus side thoughts. 'Now that I think about it, how old is she?' he began his own analysis with side thoughts 'This girl stated that she was older than me...Was she just lying? Or...Is she one of those people who look like a little girl but is really older than what their appearance make out to be...Wait how is Ciara sure that she is older than me?'. He couldn't stop looking at her partial Grimm mask...What is the purpose? Is she...No...Never mind' After removing his side thoughts from his head, he looked toward the employees of the shop and saw that none of them gave an eye toward a masked cloaked figure and a little girl holding a scythe "Well, at least I'm not getting accusations of pedophilia" He said under his breathe as he glanced over to Ciara who had finished the bowl already. He became wide eyed on the speed she had devoured the sweets. 'Gah! Does she have black hole for a mouth!?'.

The sweet-tooth girl loudly dropped the spoon into the bowl and lifted it into the air, "More please~!" She announced as she got out of her seat and walked toward the employees to, probably, drain half of their supplies within the next 10 minutes. As she did her own business, Lloyd's eyes darted out the windows, without moving his head, and was trying to spot the person who was pursuing them. 'Whoever it is, they are quite skilled at what they do' Then he made an assumption 'Is whomever it is pursuing the little girl? Because of it is, what kind of cliched setting did I get myself into?' Then he threw sense out the window 'Or is this person some sort of perverted pedophile, after all, this girl is quite a cute and innocent girl'. After finishing his mass of thoughts, he noticed the pursuer moving towards his position. 'Quite a straight forward approach there' Lloyd stood up from his seat, set down the money for the ice cream, plus extra because he knows Ciara is going to clean the place out and he was about to damage the property.

The masked man encountered the wolf faunus outside of the establishment, which was quite a bit of distance away. Both attires were quite appropriate for the moment, a cloaked figure and another wearing a wanderer's duster. The hunter tapped the ground several times with her quarter staff, leaned some of her weight on it, and had a huge grin on her face,

"So, you look like you don't suck at knowing your surroundings" Lloyd adjusted his cloak to prep his weapon when needed,

"You're skilled yourself, tell me, are you a huntress?" The wolf faunus scoffed at him,

"Of an academy? Pass. Nothing beats anything like true experience out in hell" Lloyd then noticed another presence approaching. It appears that Alva saw him coming as well. By the gods, this presence was quite heavy. A man brandishing a giant covered cross behind him with a contrasting appearance of a blacksmith came walking out from behind a building. Although it was hardly audible, he sniffed the air,

"I can smell the blood of a hunter on you white lass, and you, Gray, I can smell absurd amounts of dust from you" His tone and atmosphere were significantly nightmarish as slammed his cross into the ground, cracking it slightly, and he removed all of the cloth and ties to reveal an old, dull looking metal cross with some sort of weird circular handle with holes to grip it where the intersection of the cross is supposed to be. "Now then...Who wants to die today?" He threatened while he was behind the cross while slouching. Although no one can see, Nuada was smiling, not because he was a blood thirsty fighter, which he isn't, but because he gets to see what kind of weapons supposed legends are supposed to have. 'It's a good thing I brought the Cross of Silahlar with me'.

As the 3 stood at there place, coincidentally, the area around them seemed to be shunned of any noise pollution except wind. 'What kind of cliched atmosphere is this?' Lloyd questioned himself as he was pondering why no one was moving. Deciding that taking both the pursuer and the mysterious man at the same time quickly would the best course of action, Lloyd had pulled out his weapon, "Orgone".

The Orgone was a thick foldable weathered metallic staff , whose size went from Lloyd's feet to his abdomen, that had a mysterious object akin to an orb at the end of it that continuously glowed different colors. There was a long spear like spike at the bottom of it along with a cross guard. A simple design really. The staff was implanted into the ground and Lloyd cupped both his hands onto the orb, causing yellow and red dust to infuse with it and having energy emerge from it.

When Lloyd prepped his weapon, Alva shoved one end of her quarterstaff into her backpack, a slight clanging sound could be heard, and she removed her staff to show that there was a broad battle axe head on it. This axe head, though the blade was thin, had a long spike at the front and a short beak on the opposing side of the blade. Alva's weapon is the multi-purpose weapon "Viele Armes".

To take the initiative, Alva immediately ran towards Lloyd at high speed, with the battle axe being held to the side and low to the ground without contacting the ground. When the wolf girl was practically in his face, her battle axe was lifted up in a seemingly telegraphed fashion, diagonally up in the air and the trajectory being intended for his neck, Lloyd didn't even flinch as a strong lightning attack came from the orb, but then came something surprised him. The attack entirely shifted and the bottom of the shaft came bludgeoning down onto Lloyd's hands, disrupting the power adjustment of his attack and causing lightning bolts to spiral in different directions. Although Lloyd was not affected by his own attack, Alva was hit anyway and was thrown backwards by the sudden surge of electricity running through her body.

Ciara was still sitting in the parlor with an even larger bowl of ice cream when she noticed the scene going on outside. Out of all 3 fighters, she took particular notice of Nuada's cross. She felt a bit of nostalgia, if it could be called that, and lost part of her appetite, 'What a piece of history he has'. Then in the next moment, Lloyd pulled out his staff and prepped an attack while Alva prepped her battle axe weapon and charged quickly at him. When they made contact, a display of lightning came out in all directions, one of them heading straight through the window of the parlor.

When the lightning came through, not only were the lights disrupted, but something peculiar happened. A ball of lightning manifested in the middle of the shop, about 1 meter in diameter, and it was just moving around in sporadic patterns. As expected, everyone was quite surprised by the scene and either ran from the orb or hid under the table since they saw the people outside. One of the workers ran up to the orb carrying some sort of aura infused thick blanket and jumped on top of it with the blanket.

Needless to say, it was a bad idea, because the orb exploded magnificently and the worker was sent flying into the ceiling and actually got stuck. The blanket became torn apart and pieces of it were stuck on the employee. The distinct smell of sulfur filled the shop and those who wanted a show looked out the windows without fear. Ciara merely took up her scythe, had one more bite of her ice cream, grabbed Lloyd's backpack with ease and walked out of the shop with a half smile on her face. 'I wonder if I can get all of them to get on my team'

In the randomness of the lightning, it hit just about everything made out of metal, including the cross. When Nuada got his hands off of the metal cross, the lightning hit the make shift lightning rod and the attack redirected itself into his right arm. He was electrocuted quite a bit, but was still standing. Though he was obviously somewhat pissed off and he went to cross to open up the compartments in the cross's arms. When they were opened, it was revealed that the cross had 2 mini weapon racks for 8 unique designed pistols within them, 4 in each arm. Out of all of them, he pulled one out which was bulky, gray, and worn out; It had a scope on the side of it, a barrel with thick hinges on the end of it on the bottom, adjustable stock and had several other extra parts on it which enabled it to become a sniper rifle if needed.

He loaded in specialized dust ammunition, still had the pistol in its former shape and took aim from behind his cross at the two people he was hired to subdue. He noticed that the cloaked man and the wolf faunus weren't moving at all, but he could tell both could still fight. He became mildly disappointed at the anti-climactic sequence going on when he saw a little girl clad in black, holding a large backpack and wielding a scythe come out of the parlor, 'Oh...This is going to turn arseways isn't it?'. The man in Gray turned around slightly and white haired woman took advantage of the slight distraction by charging forward with the battleaxe spike outwards.

Though the distance was small, the attack was blocked by a scythe with a similar set up as her own current weapon. The axe had become locked by the pike by the corner of the beak and shaft of the scythe. Both Alva and Nuada's eyes opened wide to see that the girl had somehow closed the distance between the shop and their location in such a short time and had also managed to effectively stop Alva's own attack. When she looked straight into Ciara's eyes, something cold when down into her soul. Alva slacked her arms and the weapon binding become released. The blacksmith lowered his pistol and returned it back to it's compartment. He rubbed the back of his head and proceeded to wrap up his cross, 'Hah...Time to not accept the compensation, her lust for battle suddenly faltered'. While he was wrapping up his weapon, the little girl quickly came up to his side.

Without reacting much, he tried to shoo her away. That was when she lifted up his welders mask and looked straight into his silver eyes and saw the scars around his face, though they were quite faint. She smiled brightly as she stated, "Want to join my little group, Silahlar member?" Nuada had a surprised expression as he moved backwards a little bit in response, his eyes twitched a little bit as he replied

"Little bird, how the hell do you know that workshop's name?" While still smiling Ciara just walked away with both hands behind her back, she turned her head around and simply said,

"I used to know a man of the workshop"

Within her own mind, there was a particular scene. A group of four men who were garbed in tattered black gray capes, cloaks, and robes with long brimmed hats, except one man who had a mere hood covering his face and another one wore a mask. They resembled people who had come from some sort of church, somewhat. Their weaponry consisted of one man carrying a long rifle with multiple gears and attachments on it, the hooded man carrying a twin scythe which had some sort of handle coming out of the other side of the blades, another one had a twin pair of tanks on his back with a gun attached to it, and the final one with the mask had a cross similar to what Nuada wielded, but a bit smaller. They were all fighting Grimm within a completely devastated village and when a giant figure loomed over them all, the memory ended there.

Returning back to reality, the passive girl walked back to the supposed priest and stuck her hand out, "Do you want to join our wandering group?" Nuada stopped all movement temporarily before shaking his head,

"Not interested" Ciara's face went blank as the rough weapon's maker completely wrapped his cross, carried the entire thing with a back strap and began walking away. As Ciara followed the man, pestering non-stop, the other two were left alone.

Lloyd sat down onto the ground as he looked straight into the eyes of his attacker, while still carrying his staff.

"That was both impressive and suicidal" He said as he moved his left hand and cracked the joints. Alva just looked at him, inserted the battle axe head into her backpack, a clanging sound was heard, and she pulled the quarterstaff out without the head. She clicked his tongue, slammed the staff into the ground, and pointed at him with a pissed off face

"Where do you want to finish our fight!?" Lloyd looked at her with a tilted head

"Never" This aggravated the woman even more,

"Come on! That lightning was something else!" Then for some reason she started to blush and hold herself "I haven't fought someone as strong as you in a long time...It felt so good for my blood and adrenaline to rise for that moment" The masked man, thankful he had a mask on otherwise he probably would have died at that moment, looked at her with questioning eyes, that twitched quite a bit

'I just attracted a masochist didn't I?' He cleared his throat, "I'll give you 5 minute-" In an absolute instant, a black quarter staff which was held like a sword was smashed on top of Lloyd's hooded head and his face was smashed straight into the pavement.

In that moment, Alva realized what her trigger-happy nature had just did and she lifted up Lloyd's hood to see the condition of his head. When she did, the hair hidden under the hood became apparent as it was somewhat grown out disheveled gray and black hair. Lloyd was groaning when he said, while still groaning "Are you...a sadist...or a masochist?" She was confused by the question when she was automatically hit back hard by wind and she ended up being imprinted into the opposite building of the parlor. The dust user stood up, cracked his neck, and raised his staff at the battle maniac. The orb glowed blue, red, and yellow. While rubbing his head, the man said, "Ah, that hurt...If you wanted a fight, I'll give you hell upon the earth" Around him, he had materialized icicle-like projectiles all around him, all aimed at Alva, and within them were some sort of fire building up in them.

Alva recovered from her impact quickly and automatically inserted her staff in the bag, brought out a long-rifle type weapon with a bayonet and stuck the shaft into the ground while aiming the long gun at Lloyd. Both fired their projectiles at each other. When the projectiles made contact with each other, each one caused a large explosion and made the equivalent of practical fireworks to appear between the two of them. Being quite annoyed at his opponents versatility, the orb turned bright yellow and Lloyd created a very small twinkling projectile that just spun around him slowly, then he proceeded to continue attacking 'I may have been slouching on my battles for quite a while, but I have seen way too many battles that had this type of-' When the twinkling projectile went around him, Alva actually came from the front, avoiding all of the icicles, and had the bayonet of her rifle out forward.

As Lloyd was adjusting the power of his attacks when the bayonet struck him in the abdomen and he ended up falling on top of his little projectile. He had a blank facial expression as he said to Alva, "You just doomed both of us" In the next moment, a giant concentrated blast of air launched the two of them straight into the air and into the sky. The surrounding buildings were pelted with heavy winds akin to a hurricane and the people inside of the parlor, who still witnessed the fight, were all ragdolled inside the shop. In the end, it was a gigantic mess, but there was a silver lining,

"Well..." An employee was counting the amount of Lien Lloyd had dropped off and was quite impressed "At least the hooded man left us a surplus Lien for damage repairs and supply restock" He looked at the injuries of his fellow coworkers and customers "And maybe hospital bills"

...

...

...

Ciara followed the cross-wielding man back to his rustic workshop where 3 of his assistants were tending to the weapon store. One of the assistants was a male goat faunus, with white messy hair hair and black eyes and appeared to be quite strong, biting down on a standard sword while another assistant, who was a male human with dark skin, black eyes, and recently cut dark red hair, who looked very meek,

"Alby, let go of the sword!" He yelled out as he tried with all of his might to get the sword out of his friend's clutches. That was when the goat faunus pinch gripped the sword, released his bite on it, and the human still couldn't get the sword from his grip

"Sorry Bayard, no can do" He grinned as the third assistant came absolutely out of nowhere and slapped him in the head,

"Alby, quit being a jerk" A green haired short female with tied up hair said as she had a big paddle in her hands "Or do you want me to punish you?" She smiled wickedly and her green eyes screamed absolute sadism. All 3 of them did not notice their master at the front with the little girl with him. He cleared his throat and all 3 looked straight at him, and then at the little girl. Alby laughed a tiny bit,

"Nuada, I didn't think you were interested in that sort of-" Then he got smashed in the face with a paddle and went down to the ground. Bayard checked the downed goat on the ground to see if he was still conscious,

"Chloe" Nuada said and she looked straight at him straight-eyed,

"Yes?" He pointed down

"He's still breathing" She nodded in response, raised the paddle into the air, and swung down, causing Bayard to get out of the immediate strike zone and also causing part of the floor to crack. Ciara watched the scene go down in front of her, ignored what just happened, and tugged on the blacksmith's jeans,

"Why can't you go with me with my group?" She looked at him all puppy-eyed, but it seemed that Nuada had a heart of cold iron as he picked the girl up, opened the door, set her down outside, immediately ran back in and locked the door. He then proceeded to answer the question while his arms were crossed,

"Because I am not interested!" He yelled as the scythe wielding child puffed up her cheeks and raised her weapon high against the sky,

"If you don't join my team I'll damage your property!" All 3 of Nuada's assistants all looked at the girl like crazy, even Alby, who just a second ago was knocked out. Like trained soldiers, without speaking at all, tried to prevent the worse to happen when Bayard when around the counters to get the assistants' main weaponry, Alby and Chloe ran outside with spare weaponry they just picked up and ran out of the shop to stop the girl's foolishness. Chloe had with her the paddle she used to hit Alby while Alby had a simple metallic greatshield with arm strap to hold it.

The first one to try and convince her to stop was Chloe, "Little miss, I recommend not damaging our master's property!" Ciara was still holding her scythe in her hands, lowered, but still in attack mode,

"Until he joins the group, I won't leave!" She screamed out as Alby tried to get near her, greatshield up and held at a slight angle,

"Little girl, drop the weapon an-" While Alby was getting close to her, the persistent girl moved her scythe's beak underneath the gap of the greatshield and pulled on the faunus' leg, causing him to lose his balance and drop to the ground. He was then smashed into the ground further by the bottom of the scythe shaft, indicated by the cracks in the ground. Chloe instantly moved in from behind and restrained Ciara by using a vascular neck restraint. Although it seemed a bit excessive...Considering that a little girl just took down a faunus man who was practically 3 times her size with ease...It seemed necessary. However this changed when Ciara lifted her right arm and jammed her elbow into the side of Chloe's abdomen. This strike had more power than thought which resulted in the green haired girl to lose some grip and stagger a little bit before she was struck once again, this time with the bottom of the scythe shaft right her to her abdomen. This took the wind out of her and she went down.

Leaving both of them to their injuries, she went inside of the shop where Nuada still had his arms crossed, with welder mask off, and the third assistant, Bayard, ran outside with a medkit to revive his teammates. Though the eyes could not be seen, the blacksmith stared down the girl, sighed, and looked around the shop at his weapons,

"Little girl..."  
"Ciara"

"Ciara...Why are you trying so hard to take me into your team? Even going as far as beating down my students, both physically and to their pride..." He questioned as a thought came to him, 'And just how strong are you? I have seen monsters whose powers seem to pale in comparison to my assumption of yours' Ciara dropped off Lloyd's backpack to the ground, leaning against a counter.

"...Because I want special people in my group" She looked down "People who have seen the world or wandered it...I just want to see and enjoy what the world has to offer..." She looked straight at the man's silver eyes "If you did in fact come from the Silahlar workshop, the workshop of weapons...That is all the more reason I want you to come with us" The man remained silent as he set his cross down against one of the counters and he pulled up a nearby chair. He did not sit on it, but merely leaned his weight on the back of the chair. He spoke with his back against the girl.

"So...There are people who still know such an old artifact of the world" He knew Ciara said it before, but he started laughing out loud anyway. The black haired girl still awaited his answer "I come back from the damned desert, got a tan that will last months, and I see some little girl who wants me to join her flock..." He turned around and sat in the chair, his eyes dead on against Ciara's single eye, he slouched forward and his hands were together. "Even though you do know the workshop, why should I join you? I hardly have any reason to" Ciara remained quiet, she couldn't think of a solid reason, until she remember what the purpose of the Silahlar workshop, plus his cross weapon

"So you can help people and remove yourself from your sin and burden" Nuada's entire body tensed up and he broke eye contact with Ciara very subtly "The workshop...Didn't the people who join the workshop do so in order to protect their fellow man?" he looked up and stared at her,

"I still do help people though. I travel sometimes, give people weapons of mine, help them, etc." Then his mind changed gears 'Of course not without proper payment' Ciara was at her wits end, she really wanted this man on her team and she didn't care if she had to fight him to get him to join.

"Tell me...Nuada...What is your last name?"

"Alexander...My full name is Nuada Alexander" Ciara tried to remember the meaning of his last name...Then she did,

"Alexander...Defender of men..." She said aloud. She looked at the man with her single eye, which had resolved itself for it's goal. Nuada stared back at her then rubbed behind his head out of his loss of patience,

"Ah...I don't know how or why, but you bring ancient history into this" His head angled up at the ceiling "I hate people who are too persistent for their own good...So...If you like people like me, than so be it, however..." He stood up, grabbed his cross, and slung it over his shoulder "Show me how strong you yourself are. Even though you are a little girl, you still took out Alby and Chloe in a few hits...What happens will determine if I follow you or not" Then suddenly the atmosphere of seriousness within the shop was broken when the black haired girl smiled brightly in relief and then hugged the man in response,

"Thank you for considering the recruitment!" This hug was tighter than expected and the man tried to get the girl off,

"Do you have a iron grip?! Get off!" Then he realized something 'I just got convinced by a little girl through talk alone...What the heck?'

...

...

...

After falling down from the sky, landing onto the pavement without any major injuries, and still able-bodied, Alva was still determined to get Lloyd to fight with all of his might. Unfortunately for him, there were innocent civilians around and they ended up at a more...public area. Whether or not Alva even noticed the people around her was in question, but one thing was for certain...She really wanted a fight.

Alva, while in close proximity of Lloyd, thrust her quarter staff at Lloyd's stomach, who merely shifted the angle of his staff to block the attack. As he was attempting to block at least most of the attacks so he can fine-tune his dust, it was clear that Alva was not going to allow such action to occur, 'Hah...If we both go down, it is not my fault' In an instant, the gray man activated a powerful attack which had released a dangerously spectacular array of explosive-based dust abilities. This resulted in pure mayhem for a few seconds...

An entire street was reduced to a practical war zone with giant holes in the street and buildings every few centimeters, broken lamp posts and vehicles just about everywhere, and some unfortunate souls who got into the fight by accident. The one who remained standing was Lloyd who was breathing heavily as Alva was laying down on the ground with her quarterstaff next to her. At first she seemed to be knocked unconscious until she started laughing out loud, so much so that she had to hold her stomach,

"That was so amazing~!" She said jovially despite most of her clothing being practically torn and singed "I haven't felt like this in years!" While she was still in ecstasy in her adrenaline, Lloyd was absolutely flabbergasted on how much damage Alva could take, to even laugh at death...

'What is this person made out of?' He internally questioned as he looked at the amount of destruction around the section of the city around him 'How am I still-'

"You held back, didn't you?" Alva interrupted Lloyd's thoughts, her earlier demeanor completely changed and her earlier outburst somehow diminished surprisingly shortly.

"Whatever do you mean?" Lloyd took notice of the sudden change, but then, suddenly, his heart started to writhe in pain. He clenched his chest as he thought 'Crap, I was too-'

"I could feel the amount of power you have in you, though I'm glad you held back, with how much power you had the fight should've ended right at the start" She had both of her hands behind her head "But then again, I felt soooooo good afterwards" Her smile was quite a marvel and she just plainly ignored the destruction around her. She closer her eyes and then she remembered the little girl, 'Oh right, I should fight that girl later, she seems strong enough'. While she was thinking, Lloyd walked up above her, while clenching his chest and breathing heavily "What do you want?" 'Does this guy have a heart problem? And stamina issues?'

"I'm under the assumption that my partner wants you in our group, do you-"  
"Sure, why not"

'Well that was quick and easy' His heart continued to throb and his ears started ringing

"Only on one condition"

"And what would that be?"

'She's going to fight Ciara, isn't she?' Lloyd's vision blurred considerably,

"I want to fight that cross guy and your little powerhouse of a little girl, plus, payment is going to be in order" She jumped back onto her feet and began sniffing the air. After getting a bead of the duo's whereabouts, she began walking in their general direction when the local law enforcement came running onto the scene from where Alva was heading "Crap, not again!"  
"Again?!" Lloyd yelled out as Alva bolted away from sight with the efficiency of someone who had outran worse than the cops. Even when he was still in pain, Lloyd immediately followed suit after Alva by utilizing air dust and using the alleyways and rooftops as quick routes of escape...However, his unknown condition still bothered him.

...

...

...

Ciara and Nuada went underground by way of staircase where a special combat area was already available. It appears the weapons shop also counted as a training/ sparring/ weapons testing arena. The entire place consisted of 3 large area's, one which had two separate weapon testing area's, one for shooting and the other for melee with wooden, sign board, and other types of static and moving dummies, another place which is in an enclosed square space which had, presumably, glass that was reinforced closing it off, and the last was a medical clinic/ repair workshop. There was also several doors and a couple stairways lining the walls of the arena. Of course, several incredibly sturdy-looking stone pillars were uniformly scattered around the place. The assistants were standing by while each one was carrying their own cases. Bayard was carrying 2 cases, which were relatively small, in his left hand and back, Alby carried a fairly large case in his right hand, and Chloe had the largest one strapped to her back.

Ciara and Nuada entered the closed off battle area while the assistants watched.

"How were your neighbors okay with this?" Ciara questioned as she went to one side of the large arena

"My neighbors are understanding allies" He went to the other side and began to unveil his cross from its wrapping

"How much time and Lien did this take?" Nuada finished unwrapped his weapon, slammed it down into the ground, and pulled out two pistols. The sniper pistol from earlier and a Gyrojet rocket pistol with adjustable stock and a side barrel. He hid both of them under his blacksmith apron, hid the compartments of the cross, and lifted the cross by the circular trigger and tucked the head of the cross under his arm pit. He aimed the cross at Ciara and the long end of the cross had opened up to reveal that a machine gun was built into it.

"A lot" He responded. With her scythe, Ciara ran at Nuada with an ungodly amount of speed and she was practically already in his face. In that moment, the blacksmith had moved his cross, with a surprising amount of dexterity, and blocked the scythe's beak from reaching him. This impact had a surprising amount of heft to it, indicated by Nuada's legs buckling a bit 'Physically speaking, this girl is inhumanly strong and fast'. Grabbing the long side of the cross, the older fighter used leverage to push the girl away. This was a useless maneuver as the girl merely jumped over the cross and she was swinging her scythe. Then, he immediately reached under his apron for the rocket pistol and aimed it right in front of him where his aiming range was straight at the serious face of his opponent while a scythe blade was against the back of his neck. "...Do you need companions because you are lonely?" Ciara nodded her head as the scythe blade was removed from the back of Nuada's neck and she planted the bottom shaft into the ground. With a still serious face plastered on her, Nuada pinched the bridge of his nose and shaked his head, "If it will satisfy you, I will join your group" Ciara's face then changed into a very happy go lucky one as she released her grip on the scythe, which still stood there, and hugged the silver haired man.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She said undeniably quickly.

'I can't believe I'm even doing this' He looked over to his assistants and did a thumbs up 'Well, I guess I can trust my workshop to them' Then he remember who these people were '...How long will it take for this place to burn down and blow up?'

...

...

...

By the time Lloyd and Alva made it to Nuada's workshop, the gray man's condition had improved. The both of them entered and looked around this place. Lloyd in particular was very interested in the vast amount of different designs in the rustic workshop, even admiring the time period that each weapon seemed to come from, 'That blacksmith certainly was a part of that workshop' He then looked at Alva who was going through one of the doors where there was a staircase behind it going down. He followed her down when he had a sudden thought, "Alva, I know you have a good nose, but how did you get that man's scent?" Alva turned her head around and touched her nose,

"I always remember the scent of someone I want to fight"

'Somehow that makes complete sense...Wait...' He spoke out "Were you even near him? How did you get his scent?"

"That man has a very distinct smell, like he worked around metal, dust, and other stuff...It's quite strong actually" When they entered the underground area, both were impressed and surprised at the set up before them. Then the saw Nuada and Ciara leaving the battle area which Alva ran at the silver haired man quickly. Without even stopping for a proper notice of challenge, she managed to lifted him and his cross with ease, go back into the arena, set him down, and running to the other end of the arena under record time. As Alva and Nuada was setting up for their fight, everyone else decided to go upstairs and not witness the upcoming battle.

"...What the hell just happened?" It was obvious Nuada was confused and now he saw a battle crazy, hyperactive battle-freak pointing at him and wanting to fight him 'You have got to be kidding me' He raised his cross up and began to fire. He now saw how fast the wolf faunus was, but it wasn't as extreme as Ciara's, though what was impressive was the amount of agility and movement control Alva had, which gave way for many of Nuada's dust bullets to miss their mark, 'Why is it that if a person is fast enough they can dodge bullets?! WHY?!' When she was close, Nuada stopped firing and swung his cross. Though the swing was faster than expected, Alva still avoided it by ducking under the arc and then lunged forward with her quarterstaff. Though the stick impact Nuada right in the abdomen, he grabbed the staff, dropped the cross, pulled the staff and lifted his leg to prepare a kick. Alva released her grip, resulting in Nuada falling backwards and causing one gigantic opening.

Just when he was falling, Nuada adjusted the length of the quarter staff and stopped himself from hitting the ground. Although this was somewhat fruitless as he was punched to the ground by Alva. The wolf faunus then got on top of the blacksmith and proceeded to hit him in his already damaged face. 'Ah...This is pathetic' He raised his arms and wrapped them around Alva, quickly stood up, and then suplexed the ever loving crap out of her 'I swear if this person is tanky, then the balancing is crap around these characters' He released he hold on Alva, whose body hit the ground with a thud, and he stood up, dusting whatever debris was on him. He then rubbed his face and said out loud, "This wolf hits harder than I thought" While he had his back turned to Alva, he felt someone's arms wrap around his abdomen "...Crap" The next thing he knew, he was seeing the ceiling and now parts of the ground and wall. He fell face bottom to the ground and heard someone clearing their hands,

"Never have your back against an opponent, unless they're a corpse!" The white haired woman said as she picked up her quarterstaff.

'Ah...How long has it been since I fought a human/ faunus?' He thought as he felt a stick being tapped on the top of his head,

"Oi, guy with overcompensation weapon, I know you aren't unconscious, get up"

"...Are you going to smash me down again?" He muffled

"I will smash you down if you don't get up, now get up!" Alva threatened which got the silver haired man to get up...Then he got smashed in the face by the left side while his right leg was caught by Alva's, which resulted in him flying in a cartwheel like motion before hitting the ground

"Ow" He responded as he got back up again and prepared for another devastating hit. But nothing came at him. Alva had her quarterstaff stuck into the ground and she clicked her tongue in disappointment,

"You should've lasted longer, what the hell!" She announced her displease very clearly. Then the quarterstaff quickly went towards the top of the blacksmiths head, but then he caught it "See! Your reflexes aren't absolute crap! Now I want to send you flying again for messing with my expectations!" The staff was removed from where it was heading for and Alva was getting out of the arena "Now I want to fight that little girl..." She said out loud as she tried to find where the others went. When she realized they all left in the middle of the fight, or the beginning as they actually left..."Damn it!" Nuada went toward his cross where he was wrapping it up yet again, must be quite the nuisance to continue wrapping it up constantly.

"...Can you really beat that girl?" Alva turned to face the weapons smith

"Yes I damn well can!" She confidently proclaimed, which made Nuada shake his head,

"I know you looked at her eyes...Well, eye...Do you know what you are dealing with?"

"She's faster than me and has more skill than what meets the eye, I know" Alva honestly admitted while crossing her arms, which surprised the man to no end "What?"

"I thought you would be the hard headed, prideful type" Alva had a vein popping out of her head and raised her fist at the insulter

"Pride does not equal stupidity! If you are like that out in the wild with others, you will die!" She snarled at Nuada, who actually began to laugh at Alva's aggression "Why're you laughing?!" After a bit, Nuada stopped laughing and continued his wrapping,

"You just reminded me of someone I knew..." Then for some reason, Alva came over to Nuada and then proceeded to karate chop his head. He put his hand on the back of his head and turned to face Alva "Why did you just hit me!?" Alva pointed right in front of his face

"Don't fall in love with me because of your old memories!"

'Oh in the name of blood-' The silver haired man raised his voice higher than Alva's "I didn't fall in love with my MALE best friend!" Then a silence ran through the entire arena and without another word, Alva dropped her backpack and quarterstaff, puzzling Nuada for the purpose of doing so. With a straight, blank face, and a huge adjustment in tone, Alva said, while pointing downward,

"As an apology for what I have done, please enjoy yourself in examining my nomadic weapon, and help yourself in some of the Lien inside" She bowed down while her arm was across her chest "Now, I will take my leave" While turning around and trying to get out, she was caught by her collar,

"Hold on. Sudden politeness is not going to get you out of this...And never do that again, it was uncharacteristic" Alva turned her head around,

"So, what do you want me to do?" Nuada picked up the quarterstaff and planted it into the ground,

"Show me how it works, tell me the origins and how it was created...Everything about this weapon"

"Oh, only that?"

...

...

...

In the time it took for Alva and Nuada to finish their fight and the demonstration and history of the "Viele Armes" weapon, the assistants up in the workshop were packing up supplies for the leaving of their master with Lloyd and Ciara. While bags and cases were being set up, with most of the cases being tools, dust, and ammunition, Lloyd was picking at his ear. 'Hm? That's odd, I thought I heard the sounds of people shrieking at something...Must be hearing things' He looked at Ciara, who was sitting at a nearby wooden chair, smiling, and swinging her legs continuously while the scythe was sitting on her lap, 'Hard to believe that this was the girl who had that much skill in her' The still masked man recalled the speed she demonstrated at him and Alva's first encounter and the perfect weapon bind. Not only that, but the fact she could sleep in the middle of a Grimm forest without fear, is absolutely surreal. 'What is the name of her weapon?' Curious that he has yet to know, and failed to question on their earlier trek together, Lloyd went to her, "Ciara, mind telling me the name of your weapon, if you don't mind?" Ciara began humming a particular tune, a melancholic one that is somewhat like a music box,

"My weapon?" She said while thinking about it "Since us two, plus the other two downstairs are going to be a team, we need to trust each other" She paused for a bit before Lloyd had to resume the conversation,

"And...What is your scythe's name?" Ciara lifted her scythe and the air around it seemed very...dark and morbid, yet it felt welcoming if one remained in it's presence long enough,

"The name of this treasure of mine...Is Nyx" She began to hug the scythe close to her "It...is quite special to me" Lloyd left her alone and wondered why it was taking the other two so long to get upstairs. As if on cue, both the hunter and blacksmith got upstairs with both being visibly injured, but it's nothing remotely serious. Bayard automatically dropped what he was doing and tried to administer medical attention, even though he knew it was nothing life threatening or even noticeable. Nuada shooed him away as he walked up to Ciara with a resolved expression on his face,

"So, where are you taking us, oh dear leader?" 'Wait...Now that I think about it, why did I think she was the leader? Isn't her companion the leader?'

Ciara thought about the next place to go, when the brightness in her smile went blank, but it was still there,

"I don't know" Everyone looked at her blankly before Lloyd spoke out,

"You were going with the wind the entire time?" The black haired girl nodded her head before a culmination of thoughts came forth from everyone,

'We are being led around by an aimless little bird' Nuada thought

'So...' Alva began her thought 'it's just like my group before, except even more lost and with the flow'

'So the plotline is just going to be whatever happens...' Lloyd thought

As for the other assistants, 'Wait the little girl is the leader?' Then Chloe and Alby remembered the smack down the little girl gave them 'never mind'

As the assistants continued their packing, the group of 4 were just standing there awaiting the next orders of the leader...

 **Now the question is, where will the wanderers of Remnant go? Will they go to one of the 4 kingdoms? Will they just hunt some giant monster from the abyss? Or will they attend vale?**

"No" The other 3 members of the team said

 **"And why the heck not?"**

Lloyd stepped onto the 4th wall podium and pointed into the blank space of a non-described courtroom "Original characters attending beacon has happened way too many times. Or even characters from crossover stories attending beacon as either a student or teacher, even if it is well done, of good reason, or a hilarious aspect"

 **REBUTTAL : "Wouldn't it be absolutely hilarious then for you 4 to enter the academy? I mean...Look at your specifications"**

 **Ciara: A little girl who has demonstrated skill and physical abilities far higher than others  
**

 **Lloyd Brenin: Master of Dust and even a living conduit of dust of 4 elements**

 **Alva Adalwolfa: An experienced hunter by real life experience and a battle maniac  
**

 **Nuada Alexander: A master of gunsmithing, blacksmithing, and dust alchemy and a member/ associate of the Silahlar workshop, an old fossil that once led in weapons smithing. Also, a CROSSGUN that has even more guns in it. All the guns, of which, are special.  
**

 **"Heck, in some respects Ciara will be good friends with Ruby (For obvious reasons) and Nuada will be friends on the basis of weaponry...And because of his big gun with smaller guns in it...Alva...I have no clue, maybe be a subversion to Weiss or something...I swear if anyone thinks of any Yuri-**

"Oi!" Alva went onto the podium, taking Lloyd's spotlight "Do you have any idea how demeaning it would be to be first years? Hell-!" She pointed at Nuada "I don't care if there isn't an age limit to joining a huntsman academy, this man would be older than every student with teenage hormones and be like 2, 3 times their age!"

"Hey I'm actually quite-"  
"And I do not want to be a first year to a bunch of second or third years who think they know or are better than me!" Lloyd cleared his throat,

"In short, Alva will tear everyone a new hole, then within that hole there will be another hole" He then looked up at the blank space "If you dare put us in a storyline that has been done before, either the followers or readers demanded it or you want to peeve everyone else with an overdone prospect" Then he looked straight up "Also the title name...The wanderers of remnant wouldn't make much sense if we are confined within a school, no?"

 **...**

"As such, at the very least, there should be an OVA type chapter to represent what would happen if we do enter school, which by the way-"

 **"Hold it!**

Lloyd silenced himself as he listened in on the author's rebuttal,

 **"Who said you were going to be students? Why not teachers? Seems more reasonable"** All 3 members of the congregation had a moment of a powerful blast of realization before all of them hit their podiums in some fashion, then some recovery afterwards if they realized some consistency issues within the argument,

'He refuted my argument!' Lloyd thought strongly, 'Wait...This still falls under the category of avoiding Beacon altogether' He readjusted his thinking process, "This entire argument just went full circle!"...'But how many times has a character become a teacher?'...'Speaking of which, how many of them reverted back to a younger age?'

'Crap! I don't want to be a teacher to a bunch of children!' Alva thought strongly, 'If I see a bastard bullying other faunus, I will show him real fear...I'll go for their legs'

'...Well, at least I get to see different types of weaponry...Shame my assistants had to waste their time, but then again, since when did they have time?' Nuada thought passively, 'Wait...What in the world would I even teach?'

Then out of nowhere, Ciara came out of nowhere, and by that, I mean she went in from the ceiling while riding a nevermore (For those who don't remember, Giant bird) When it landed, she was petting the head of it and she gracefully jumped down from it. She bowed down, scythe in hand, and she announced to everyone,

"I am the one who will choose!" Alva put one foot on the podium while crossing her arms,

"Said the person who doesn't even know where to go!" The nevermore became violent toward Alva, but it was calmed down by Ciara

"We have time to think about it!" She exclaimed as Lloyd was looking at the nevermore,

"How did you manage to tame a nevermore?" While Lloyd thought about the scene, he confused himself even more on Ciara's origins, even though his theories were well-founded and made sense. While he was thinking, Nuada was standing at his podium holding his cross in the rest position, preparing for the worst.

 **"You know what, everyone just shut it, the decision will be made by the next chapter. CASE CLOSED!"**

 **By the next chapter, where will our protagonists go? Who knows...**


	3. Chapter 3: Surprise

A/N :It goes without saying that there will be 'lore' inserted which is absolutely not related to the RWBY canon one bit. It should also be noted that I have no idea what the time line of RWBY is, meaning, I have no idea how long mankind had existed on Remnant.

Also: For the past month I was not in the mood to write...At all. I have several writing projects I was doing and then suddenly I had no motivation to write in the slightest. In short: Laziness and binge reading. But seriously, I really did not have motivation, even when I tried.

A/N: End

* * *

Even when faced with truth and evidence of said truth, some people still deny even what is clear in front of them. Even if satiated with said truth, some people change in order to go farther beyond the truth. When faced with wanting answers, a person questions everything and sometimes answers said question themselves.

Sometimes, a person who knows the truth already just needs evidence.

In short, the human mind, nay, the inner workings of the concept of how a living things mind can be an enigma, convoluted, and contradicting, even among those presumably superior or even regarded as the wisest or most advanced. Why is it, one might think...The answer is: To gain, one loses something in return, simple as that.

...Oh, I'm going to assume that everyone knows the relative saying of how humans are more monstrous than actual monsters...Well, let me say this in response: Humans create monsters, monsters can create other monsters, and a monster can be more human than real humans. However, there are always bastards and good people on every side of a race...Grimm on the other hand...

...

…

…

Everyone awaited the decision Ciara had to make, who was just sitting there and thinking where to go. Because of how hard she was trying to think, she took up the thinker pose while puffing her cheeks in frustration in her forgetfulness. This was when Alva walked next to Lloyd and whispered to him,

"Why aren't you the leader?" Lloyd slightly cocked his head to Alva's direction, and shrugged his shoulders,

"I don't know" He responded, which made the faunus stare at him in confusion,

"You don't know?!" The gray-black haired man nodded his head lazily. This made her have a mental face palm. "Why are you following her then?"

"Because she intrigues me and I want to see how she influences the world around her" Alva looked at him blankly

'How can a little girl influence the world?' She thought 'I know she's different and all, but-' Ciara made a loud sound that indicated that she thought of something,

"I forgot that I came to Vale to enjoy what it had to offer!" Lloyd rested his balled up hand under his chin and crossed his other arm across his stomach,

"Ah, that's right, we were in the middle of exploration" His eyes wandered towards Alva's direction. Although, due to his mask's design it was hard to determine where he was looking at, his head movement told the story, "Before a certain someone wanted to battle me" Alva raised her hands in defense,

"Hey, crap happens, whatever happens, happens" She had an uncaring grin on her face and she put her hands down. Ciara got off of her chair, went over to Lloyd, grabbed him by his hand, and proceeded to escort him out to...where ever she desired or finds first. Nuada moved to the front door to stop them. He had his arms crossed,

"So, what are we going to do?" Ciara stared at him for a moment before responding,

"You can follow if you want, or do whatever, it doesn't matter" Nuada stepped out of the way as the two walked out of the shop. Alva went outside as well, but not following the other two,

"In that case I'll go-" Nuada quickly grabbed her and forcibly dragged her back inside "Oi!" She was raising her fists in protest "What d'ya think you're d-" She was placed into a chair and then the assistants and Nuada himself threw clothing somewhat similar to Alva's own at her, except they were shades of dark blue and black instead of her brown clothing. She picked up one article of clothing, the dark blue/black duster cloak and examined it, "This is well made" She commented as she was attempting to rip and tear it, which none of the storekeepers seemed to care about the abuse. "And why are you giving me this?" All of them pointed at the poor condition of Alva's current clothing "oh"

Out in the open, the faunus was changing her clothing right in front of everyone. All of the males darted their heads away and the only one who started to dart his eyes back at Alva was Alby. That was before Bayard forcibly made the goat avert his eyes by way of big stick from the counter into the taller man's chin. The only one who had attentively stared at the undressing was Chloe, who wasn't even commenting on decency and womanhood, but just looked at Alva's figure, which was quite somewhat impressive with some noticeable skinny muscle.

At one point during the undressing, Alva had placed a weathered, dull looking medallion on a nearby counter which had a severely worn strap that looked like it could snap if enough force was applied. The metal medallion had all sorts of nicks and scratches and the image on the front and back was near-unreadable; though it barely looked like a wolf's face on the front and a bow at the back, or at least seemingly.

With all of her clothing off, what covered the sexual body parts were white bandage wrappings (A sarashi) wrapped tightly around her chest, preventing the breasts from flopping about (assuming they were of any significant size) and...her nether region was covered in white bandages as well...for whatever reason. From the reveal of her skin, several scars haphazardly covered her body, thought most of them were faint and could only be seen if under the right lighting. There was one large scar across her abdomen that wrapped almost around her body. From the width and visibility of it, and with how it wrapped around the sides, it was if Alva was almost cut in half.

The undressed female then continued to nonchalantly put on the high quality clothing the shopkeepers kindly provided. While she was doing that, Chloe looked back at Nuada, who was still looking away, 'Matching scars' She thought when she darted her eyes towards Bayard and Alby. While the red haired man was kneeling on the ground with a broken long stick in his hands, a bit tired. Alby had the other half of his stick in his mouth, had both of his arms crossed around his chest and he was just nodding his head as he was examining the wolf faunus.

Chloe forcibly balled up her hands and this sudden change of atmosphere made shivers run down Alby's entire body and all of his hairs to stand up on end. Immediately, he tried to reason with her "Chloe, I know what you're thinking...But..." He couldn't think of anything so he just accepted his fate with a smile "I regret nothin-" Seemingly out of nowhere, Chloe pulled out a bamboo sword this time and bludgeoned the top of the goat faunus' head, forcing him to hit the wooden ground with a resounding thud. He released a long release of air before slipping into unconsciousness.

After seeing that spectacle, and while being fully clothed, Alva spoke out to Nuada, "Is that a running gag here?" The blacksmith pinched the bridge of his nose,

"It unfortunately is"Alva grabbed her backpack and medallion and was on her way out. While partially out of the store, she turned her head around,

"How much-"

"It's for free" Nuada interrupted. The faunus gave a thumbs up,

"Right, got it" She proceeded to be on her way, where ever said place is.

Back at the store, Alby quickly recovered himself and leaned against the counter, Chloe started off the conversation,

"Hey Nuada, why're you following the girl?" Chloe followed up by adding on,

"Usually, you wouldn't do something for no reason, what is the profit?" Alby finished off with,

"Or did you get attracted to little girls all of a sudden?" Nuada looked at all of them seriously and replied with, without a break for thinking,

"That little bird would've been persistent one way or another and it would be a nuisance to deal with for a long time, so, why not save the effort?" The man then looked to the ceiling lights, "Also, the fact that she knew what the cross I wielded was is impressive all on its own" He sighed as he thought about the idea of joining another team, though, the fact that a mere child is leading them is something of an interesting prospect that wouldn't actually kill the group as, presumably, all of them are competent enough "Supposedly, Alva and Lloyd are both famous, do any of you know who they are?" Bayard and Alby had wide opened eyes, both of their expressions and exclamations crossed against each other,

"You don't know who they are?!" Nuada had frowned furiously at this question and was quite annoyed of his ignorance,

"Have I been living under a rock this entire time?"

"No, you've been living under smoke and ore" Chloe had joked "But I don't know either of them much, so let this duo info-dump you"

The first one to present was Bayard and the entire time he spoke his hands were gesturing for effect and he did it in hearty announcer style,"Lloyd the gray king is revered and well-feared for his unnatural abilities over dust and his seemingly impenetrable aura shield!"

'His hand seemed to hurt when he was struck with that quarter staff'

"He could bring down fearsome lightning storms down from the heavens, create hurricanes that could devastate even the strongest of fortresses, create fissures and cracks of the world that can lead to the inner workings of the earth, and he could split the ocean in half and keep it there!" Nuada had not only the expression of doubt, but also confusion. Chloe had this as well, but not to the blacksmith's extent

"Are you sure his story was not confused and mixed with stories of gods and demons?"

"But wait, there's more!"

"Oh great" 'He seems more bombastic than his usual self'

"Several times he had fought off entire armies and hoards of Grimm and is considered a one-man-army. He even fought legendary huntsman while they were in teams and still came out on top...By himself!" After that bombastic style of storytelling, the dark skinned man breathed in loudly and fell to the ground tired. Nuada was rubbing his temples and sighed loudly,

"No wonder I never heard about him, he sounds like a fictional character with broken power levels! Alby, tell me about your-"

"Wait!" Bayard interrupted while breathing heavily

"story...What is it Bayard?"

"There is one piece of information I forgot to mention. It had been said that Lloyd has multiple personalities" Nuada stared at Bayard for a little bit,

"What else?"

"Well..." He then shrugged his shoulders "I don't know, my story ends there"

"Tch, what the hell...Now then Alby, begin your story"

Chloe walked up to the goat faunus and gave him a pair of story-teller styled glasses and a large book, 'Oh what the-'

"Once upon a time"

'Damn it all Alby'

"There was once a tribe of people in the north who specialized in hunting not only Grimm, but also human and faunus alike." He turned the page,

'Is the text that big or are there pictures? Wait, is that book even filled with anything?'

"There was one among them that would be considered their champion, dare say, even a noble of her art. Her name was Alva Adalwolfa, the winter hunter." He turned a page "Her skills were in-doubtfully on par with the greatest of hunters, even being at a far younger age, and her successes in eliminating the highest levels of Grimm and defeating the most skilled people around the world." A page was flipped "Even though she lacks in the common senses of typical normal people, it is that same uncommon behavior that has brought up Alva to be who she is. Though, is it truly worth the cost?" A page was turned over "Both feared and revered, Alva is a force of nature and a blood borne hunter who knows nothing but the hunt yet she retains a semblance of being kindhearted" A single page of an over-sized book was turned "Even so, for the longest time, she fights to no bitter end and is determined to find worthy prey to defeat in glorious battle" He closed the book and removed his glasses.

In this instance, Nuada was staring blankly as he looked over to Chloe who merely shrugged as a reaction. The man then intertwined his fingers together and put it against his mouth "So then, a legend and a fairytale of two seemingly overly strong characters whom we just encountered right now?"

"Yeah pretty much" "Basically" Alby and Bayard's words overlapped each other

"So does anyone know who Ciara is? She seems too strong to go unnoticed" Everyone shook their heads in response. Nuada changed his positioning and now had his arms crossed "It appears a new legend will be born"

At another place of the city, Ciara was dragging Lloyd through certain area's that caught her attention that she wanted to spend time with him. Looking around the surrounding area to see the reactions of every single living being, Lloyd mentally took a breath, 'Good, it appears they think I'm this girl's guardian' After a while, both of them stopped in front of an arcade where Lloyd himself looked at it with interest, 'What the heck is this place?' After being forced inside, the gray-cloaked man took a gander at all of the people and gaming machinery around the place, 'Oh, I remember now, this is-'

Ciara came up to the worker at a counter while carrying Lien which presumably came from Lloyd. The gray man stared at her, wondering how in the world she managed to pilfer the money from his person without his acknowledgment. After getting a monetary exchange of cash to coins, the both of them played around, Lloyd being forced into playing some of the games, and gaining quite a few followers watching their little gaming adventure.

Two opposing small crowds watched as two people battled each other vigorously at a fighting game. The contraptions set opposite sides of each other, on one side was a smiling carefree Ciara battling against a veteran gamer on the other side who had veins popping out of his head and a lollipop in his mouth which exploding from excessive bite down. Then came the closing moment when on the veteran's screen came the heart breaking "you lose" announcement and sign. The gamer fell over on all fours in despair while Ciara was humming a sweet tone and swinging her legs,

"How...Just how!?" The gamer yelled out as he pointed at her "You weren't even spamming and you defeated all of us!" In the background there was a group of young people who were in a metaphorical pile of bodies who were despairing over their crushing loss. 'This is embarrassing' 'How?' 'Why?' 'Monster' 'Hacks' 'I shamed my family' Were some of the thoughts by the group of gamers.

Lloyd came up from behind Ciara while holding a Grimm plush toy of a beowolf "So, how was your experience?" Ciara got off of the seat and was given the plushie. She took it, hugged the toy tightly, and smiled brightly,

"Thank you very much Lloyd, It was great fun! I would be happy to visit this place again someday" While she was walking, the crowd of people in her way split in two without a word spoken, allowing the pair to walk out without any problems. On this day, a legend was born and several people became lolicons. While outside, Lloyd began speaking to the black-dressed girl,

"Was that really your first time?" Ciara nodded her head in response,

"The first few times I played were failures, but I got used to it quickly"

"Ah, I see..." 'What is the learning rate of this child?' Ciara led Lloyd to the next area of interest, a bakery, 'A lot of our places are going to be food related, is it not?' And Lloyd's conjecture was absolutely correct when the both of them began wandering around food related places which included a convenience store, supermarket, fruit stands...All except bars. Both for the reasoning that Ciara is a child and that he does not want to see what a drunk little power house would look like; even he may be strong enough to handle such a force of reckoning...Or be eloquent enough to explain a drunken child to the police.

While Ciara and Lloyd were having their friendly time together, Alva had decided to return back to the Errante Bar, where she was originally at. By the time she had gotten there, the panic that ensued earlier due to The Gray King's appearance had simmered down and everything was back to the way it was...Except the part where everyone had dropped whatever information sharing, drinking, or random bet they were doing to stare at Alva coming through the doors. Even the most drunk out of them had been snapped into a sober state from seeing the wolf faunus' return. After staring at everyone's motionless states and mix of shock and awe, Alva broke the thick air, "Did ya idiots think I was taken out? What the he-" Suddenly the place roared and the only comprehensible mess of words she could make out of the ramble was 'She actually survived!'.

She grinded her teeth together, felt absolutely insulted, and roared out while raising a fist at all of them "You little shits actually thought I got downed!" She then smashed her fist into an open palm while grinning menacingly "Who wants to wrestle for a bit?" Everyone's mood went downhill magnificently quickly as Alva drove in the final stake "Your only crutch is the fact that there are more of you, I am wee bit tired, and the alcohol dulls the pain" As she was approaching the large group of miscellaneous side characters, Alva's personal info broker went in front of her, attempting to at least slow her down,

"Hey, hey, hey, Alva!" A nearby man lent the info broker a large shield

"Thanks"

"You'll need it" The broker planted the shield firmly to the ground and hid behind the hunk of steel,

"Alva, this is not a fighting game where you beat someone within an inch within their life every time the scene changes, so for once, can you not send everyone into the emergency room? Please?!" The wolf faunus grabbed the rim of the tower shield, the force of her grip actually had bent and crushed the metal around the fingers, and a chunk was completely ripped off. Even though the majority of the patrons have seen how monstrous this woman could be...Something really wasn't right in the world at this very moment. And then she began to chuckle a little bit,

'Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap' The broker's mind raced heavily as his heart could beat 'Why is she laughing? WHY IS SHE LAUGHING? Ah...We're dead, we're dead, we...are...d-e-a-d!'

"The gray king Lloyd held back and still beat me, that random blacksmith, Nuada-something, held back and he took my hits like a beast, and I felt fear for the first time in a while from a little child of all things...This beat-down-" Then the shield was thrown into the ceiling, smashing the wood and causing wooden chunks to fly, and the still unnamed info broker saw a smile in it's truest form of crazy.

Automatically, in a split second after seeing a manner of smile practically none of the patrons have seen from the winter hunter, all of them had armed themselves to the best of their abilities and the bartender who was behind the counter had brought out a scroll and sighed deeply, "This is why I have speed dial" In the next second, every melee oriented fighter charged ahead as the ranged troops stayed far and scattered as Alva had brought her quarter staff outward, "I want to see if this is a dream or not!" She announced as the entire tavern went into a hail of destruction...

…

…

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" The tavern was a picture perfect moment of a storm of destruction. Charred walls where ever it wasn't black, shattered windows that were clean of all glass, light sources that somehow managed to survive, and bodies of downed men scattered everywhere. All around her, there were many men who were slouched in all sorts of positions both on the ground, walls, broken tables and chairs, and even a man with his head lodged into the ceiling by some miracle of logic. The other men in the back were all propped against the wall or through said wall. Two weapons that particularly stood out was a rocket launcher type weapon and a grenade launcher type weapon. Alva was slamming her head against the wall at the poor performance and gigantic blunder of what just happened "Why did you think it was a good idea to use an explosive weapon inside a packed building?!" She grabbed her head in frustration and was even more determined to beat the living out of the two who had the incompetence to bring such weapons in such an enclosed space. But then, she took a deep breath and released it, "Heh...At least I know this isn't a dream..."

The bartender meanwhile was drinking a particularly strong brand of alcohol as he was going through his scroll. He grabbed his head in annoyance and aggravation then pinched the bridge of his nose, "Okay, okay...Mei Company to un-crap this mess...Eh...I need a break" Then he fell over with alcohol in hand. He took one swish before announcing to deaf ears, "Bar is closed, have a nice dayyyyyyyy, -beh"

…

…

...

The final destination for the duo was a good ole visit to the park, which at the time was at the afternoon, where the both of them were sitting on a bench watching a few people were casually walking back and forth while eating crepes from a nearby cart. The both of them were savoring the sweet deliciousness of the commodity like they had never tasted such a food before. The scythe that Ciara carried was leaning on the bench seat with her at an angle in order for it to not fall to the ground.

"Ah~" Ciara released a pleasant sound of enjoyment "I haven't had fun like that for a while" She bit down on her crepe, savored the flavor for a bit before swallowing. She turned her head to Lloyd who adjusted his mask in order to eat,

"Indeed" He replied before biting down on his sweets as well,

"Where do you get so much money?"

"Hm..." Lloyd was thinking on the many ways he had procured Lien "I have done odd jobs, tons of favors, a little psychological counseling mingled with Remnant's economy stocks for a bit, sell a couple books and present some research notes and papers...There are many ways" The little girl looked at the masked man admirably "Er..."  
"You can do anything" Ciara had commented as Lloyd shifted around in his seat and as he looked away from the girl's dark glowing eyes,

'Damn it all, I can't do it...Why?...' Then suddenly, his chest started to tighten and burn immensely, a sharp pain struck through his head, and he began feel cold 'Shit! I let down my-' Lloyd toughed it out through his internal pain, returned to his monotonous state and turned to face Ciara "Will you ever show me what's under your mask?"Ciara giggled lightly,

"You can see most of my face already, I could say the same to you"

"...Everyone hides something, no matter how minuscule or enormous in the form of even the most mundane and inconspicuous of items" Lloyd had lifted part of his cloak up "For example, you have yet to see most of my bare body-" His heart began to blister and throb

"Context" Ciara interrupted as Lloyd quickly analyzed what he just stated, then experienced an even deeper drilling into his brain

"...You have yet to see most of my identity or even the clothing under my cloak, so then" he released his hold of his cloak "Your character is an enigma, having a mind both within your appearance range and beyond your, presumed, years. Demonstrating strength appropriate and disproportionate to your appearance and a weapon of which is not only a modified farming tool, but also a farming tool that you actually don't use that often...I got a little side tracked" It felt like his joints had frozen over

"Think before you speak Lloyd" Ciara had responded as she was trying to keep up with Lloyd's usage of big and fancy wording,

"In short, you lack consistency and I just want to see what's under your mask" Ciara grabbed a hold of her partial mask, but did not remove it,

"Sorry Lloyd, I know we're supposed to be teammates, but I can't show you, not know anyway" Suddenly, the light atmosphere that had been prevalent around the area began to get darker and thicker in air. For some reason, Dust began to linger in the air, creating an odd stench. Lloyd sighed deeply,

"It was not a good thing for you to take that branch of action...Now you peaked my interest ever farther " Ciara's eyes widen heavily as, even through the slits of the mask, she could see the light and feeling of Lloyd's eyes to change dramatically into something more inhumane "To protect their reputation, selfishly or selflessly, to protect or not for those who are near, by word of mouth, by merely saying, satiate my wonder and thought by telling me the truth...Now!" The little girl's facial expression turned to that of worry and fear in response to Lloyd's sudden changing heart and mind, so much so, that she tightly hugged the Grimm plushie. Lloyd's sudden outburst had caught the attention of the few park-goers around the immediate area and due to the perceived image most of them had of whatever was going on with the duo, some of them actually stopped and remained from afar to see how the scene will play out.

In the middle of the tense conversation, Lloyd was about to grab ahold of Ciara's shoulders when he stopped midway and returned his arms back towards him. He bit down on his tongue with an absurd amount of force and began to breathe out of his nose. Noticing the odd smell dissipating, the atmosphere returning to normal, and those people around them continuing on with their daily business with at least one or two keeping an eye out.

As Lloyd was grabbing onto his pants tightly, breathing out and grunting, Ciara reluctantly reached out to tug on his cloak, "Lloyd-" Then suddenly, Lloyd stood up and quickly ran off in a direction where less populace noise was emanating "Lloyd!" Ciara quickly picked up her scythe and ran after the changing man...Though considering how quick she could move, catching Lloyd wasn't an issue. Midway in his quick escape, Ciara had slammed against him, both colliding into the stone path and ragdolling onto the dirt grounds. Even though the nearby civilians were thinking of intervening when things went south, after the display both had presented, the people were no longer inclined in interfering between the forces that were about to occur.

As both of the powerhouses were getting up, Lloyd spat onto the ground a wad of saliva and blood and pulled out his Orgone, which he then stabbed into the ground. The most noticeable thing about the staff was the orb, which was now breaking. Lloyd had pressed his hand against his chest and clenched it as he spoke out, "I...Honestly did not expect this to occur...How troublesome, this nuisance" Lloyd kneeled down and had both of his hands clenching his chest. Seeing this, Ciara tried to help him out somehow, but Lloyd stopped her, "Wait, hah...Don't get anyone involved...You know how teammates are supposed to share secrets, am I correct? Well...hah..." Lloyd slowly stood up, lost his footing for a moment, but recovered his standing "I don't even know why it reared it's ugly head now...Did I falter too much? Was my desire too strong? Was it strong emotion?...Heh..." Lloyd removed his cloak and mask to reveal what was under the attire. Lloyd by default had dead-gray or a darker shade of white skin, however, what covered him were dust crystals growing out of him, pitch black and purples ones to be precise. The man himself looked at his arm and his eyes seemed to lose their light, "Ah...This is interesting...It has been quite a while since..." Lloyd violently coughed as he stared as Ciara with blank eyes "You are strong...correct? You know what to do...Right?" Then his skin started to be devoured by a pitch black substance "It was my own fault this happened..." As the pitch black substance was kind enough to leave Lloyd's head alone for just a certain amount of time, Lloyd said his last words "At least...A question of mine was..." The black substance had completely coated Lloyd and as the crystals began to grew outward and at larger proportions, so did the bulk of the body itself.

The arms elongated, the sounds of bones snapping were heard as the legs turned inward upon themselves, flesh-rending claws grew from the hands and feet, and a elongated snout erupted from the face. His hair had not changed color, though long hairs grew all over resembling his base color. Though the entire figure was pitch black with no noticeable details; It all changed when the mouth opened agape, presenting a row of teeth that could break even the strongest of aura's and the densest of bones. It appeared to have no eyes and by the end of the transformation, the figure was slouching down and was breathing heavily.

Ciara just stared and readied her scythe. She was immensely confused at the situation that had just occurred and was conflicted on the point of action she should take, 'What...Is this?' The creature sniffed the air and it's mouth opened to release an intolerable stench of concentrated dust.

"Ma...ma" A voice completely distorted and rougher than Lloyd's came from the creature "Is that you...mama?"

 **A/N: Well then that's a surprise, is it not? Seriously, what the heck is going on? Was there any foreshadowing to this? Who knows...**

This is the name of Nuada's pistol's in his cross:

Rocket Pistol: Biehl

-Based on the real-life equivalent, the gyrojet pistol. Unforunately, the rocket pistol's bullets are not explosive mini-rpg's of death, but merely rocket-propelled bullets...But this is the world where people with over-sized transformation weapons and magic- I mean dust. As such, explosive dust bullets!

Sniper pistol: Mosin

Dust-thrower pistol: Flammenwerfer

Shotgun pistol: Brechen

Twin blade pistols: Schwarze Katze und weiße Hund

Heavy-shot pistol: Berg

Automatic pistol: Ingram


	4. Chapter 4: Old World Blues

**Finally updated this story *insert ramble about life here***

Dust is an element of nature that allowed human and faunus kind to combat the oncoming forces of Grimm. From being infused into clothing to running technology, to being used in its raw form in powerful fashion and utilized in weaponry for the commons...There is one subject that has been quite questionable in the utilization of dust...Infusing dust with a person...

It changes from person to person, the results differ greatly and the problems that may arise stretch out farther than one could perceive...But in layman's terms, the process and recovery from dust infusion can be unbearable and pain staking, and from some accounts, some people even died. A powerful tool indeed, but at what cost?...

Of course, the results differ from person to person, like said previously. Some people were able to maintain a fairly good state of health after dust transfusion while others went through literal hell...But there have been people who had gone beyond the limit and common sense and had done the unthinkable in their hunger for knowledge and science...

Or even trying to create the ultimate weapon.

* * *

A small child, all gray with outgrown hair, wearing nothing but a colorless patient's gown, was sitting with his knees against his body; against a large pitch black fuzzy surface inside of a pitch black spacious cavern. However, due to the amount of time he has spent in that place, his eyes had adjusted very well to the darkness. Throughout the cavern, there were very large stalactites and stalagmites scattering the area, plus different sized openings in the walls, floor, and even ceiling leading to places of the unknown. The only sounds that resonate is the faint sound of water flowing and the groaning sound of a massive beast resonating within the cave system.

Once in a while, sounds of different types of people would echo from an a source far off from where the boy laid.

After sitting there motionlessly for an indescribable amount of time, a peculiar sound penetrated the void,

"It...hurts" The voice was a low pitched, rough, and had a surreal tone to it. The boy craned his neck up against the rough, fur wall and petted it "ugh..." The boy remained silent as he presumably tried to comfort the unnamed creature. Without any warmth, the boy with fish-dead eyes continued to rub the side of the creature for an unknown passage of time. Then, there came a point, after what felt like several years had passed, some sort of long extremity wrapped around the boy tightly. With no malice, nor warmth, the large creature started to disappear in a slow cloud of dark ash. As it was evaporation, a vast array of weaponry consisting of standard, yet varied types of spears, swords, and even a battle axe, had all clattered to the ground in a loud cacophony of metal.

The dissipation seemingly had a mind of its own, as the dark fog started to seep into the child himself. From whatever light remained in his dead eyes, it had become completely shallow as he fell over, completely motionless. An undetermined amount of time had passed yet again before someone of the living had arrived to the child's location.

The sound of metal scrapping the ground violently enveloped the air and the sounds of irregular walking came closer to the boy. The one who had arrived was a male reddish-brown wolf faunus in gear reminiscent of a miner worker. He was holding onto a chain with both arms and the object he was lugging around was a giant metal cross with a disheveled brown-haired human man in similar gear lounging on it...who appeared to be sleeping,

"Hey Donn, I found the boy" The wolf sounded out and the man immediately got off the cross unceremoniously to yawn shortly after. He smacked his lips together and took a look at the boy on the ground. Then he looked around the area to see any nearby hostiles,

"Eh? No Grimm?" He had disappointment riddled in his tone and he slightly slouched down "Damn, I really wanted to fight the underground monster..." He suddenly sprang up and checked the condition of the child from searching his pulse to even checking his temperature, "Heh...Cold as ice, but alive..." He carried the child and gently placed him on the cross "Hand me that chain Aruna" He pointed down at the cross "And rest on this cross while we make our way out, it actually feels better than you think"

Though the Fox was reluctant, he decided to lay down on the cross while embracing the child close.

"Do you have any idea how to get out?" Donn had nodded his head,

"We've been underground many times, this search is the same as usual, if a little irregular" He started moving, dragging along the cross and its passengers and also seamlessly navigating the cavern like he was born and raised within it.

As the two men were getting out with their mission objective, Aruna spoke out, "Donn, I have a feeling I should execute this child right now" Donn had immediately cocked his head in Aruna's direction,  
"Woah, a little blunt there my comrade, what the hell?" Aruna had shrugged his shoulders while harboring the peaceful and resting boy,

"This feeling is building up in me...Just a feeling..." Donn had turned his back to his navigation and breathed out,

"Considering the one who hired us..."

"Hm..." Aruna slowly had hairs climbing stiff throughout his body "That's the main reason why I think we will regret this" Donn looked down at the ground,  
"If we survive the next few years...And if we truly advance forward...Our future generations will handle the issue" He blinked and then smiled widely, not of malice, but of a reassuring proclamation of will, "But, if anything happens" He looked back at his partner with a smile to enlighten the dark caverns "We can handle it" Aruna nodded in response and continued holding the child without second thoughts,

"Yeah...we can..." Aruna said out loud when Donn yanked the chain, almost knocking his ally out balance, and continued walking

"Say it with gusto damn it!" Don announced wholeheartedly, causing a resounding echo though the impenetrable darkness,

"Why the hell are we doing this in a cavern in all places?!" His partner yelled out, causing more echoes

"Because why the hell not?!"

"This is such an inappropriate time to do this!"

"There's always a time for light in the shadows!"

"Did you read that off of a fairy tale book!?"

As the two playfully bickered and yelled with 'joy', the growing darkness in the child had begun to subside, or at the very least, it was temporarily halted as the two men were heading out of the cavern toward their quest giver...

…

…

…

"So...Was it a success?"

"Indeed it was"

"Ah...Interesting..."

"Didn't think he would survive? Or..."  
"I expected the Grimm to be annihilated, but...What happened works too" The man took a pause "What of the compatibility?"

"Considering the special Grimm we used, the compatibility is quite better than first theorized...but..."  
"There is always a 'but', don't leave out details, what's the situation?"

"Er...How do I explain this...The experiment has been deemed..."

…

…

...

"A failure..."

…

…

...

An abominable creature, comprising of a seeming combination of dust and Grimm, had taken its aim of interest toward Ciara, who was standing in a battle pose. Even though she was just experiencing an incredible amount of shock earlier, she had unnaturally recovered from this sudden development and was prepped for taking down her new found ally. 'What is this creature?' She thought as the monster itself was standing still with labored pants,

"Ma...Ma..." Ciara had flinched slightly from those words,

'Nonononononononono, I have to focus...And save Lloyd..Somehow...But I don't even know what this even-' Then a collected group scream filled the air. Ciara looked back and saw several people who, honestly, just noticed the giant black monstrosity in the middle of a park.

"A Grimm?!" "Monster!" "What the hell?!" Were just a few of the things that were said as everyone evacuated the area in a hurry.

Despite the ensuing chaos, the creature had passively stood there for some reason, only paying attention at the little girl. Just as she was finally going to attack, the Gray King Grimm's crystalline back had demonstrated a brilliant array of colors. It's mouth had opened agape, blue glowing cracks lining around the backside and mouth appeared, and some sort of dust-based projectile was being created. Without thinking, and assuming the charge time, Ciara ran at the creature at high speed, impaled it with the spear end under the mouth, and redirected the projectile straight at the sky.

Once the projectile was fired, Ciara had unleashed a very tight attack pattern consisting of quick stabs, strikes with the beak, and even bludgeoning with the bottom end of her scythe. With every strike, it penetrated through the skin and forcibly tore out chunks of evaporating meat; By every thrust, the wounds would penetrate deep and a black haze would seep out copiously. The more that Ciara attacked, the greater she hoped that Lloyd won't get too permanently injured. Despite bringing about a seemingly devastating array of attacks, the creature did not seem to be fazed at the slightest; Even when he was noticeable pushed back and aside every strike plus the mortal injuries.

In the middle of the assault, one of Ciara's bludgeoning attacks had been rendered ineffective when it struck and bounced off of the hide. Not only did this disrupt Ciara's footing, but a resounding dull sound emitted from the source and a bit of weapon shock reverberated through her weapon.

Wide-eyed, and in awe of how the beast wasn't even indicating that it was becoming weaker, Ciara noticed how parts of the fur had started to stiffen and become rigid. All of the injuries thus far, that was seeping black aura, were becoming closed by a crystalline structure. Just when Ciara was about to retreat backward to come up with a strategy, she saw snow falling down in front of her...

…

…

…

A little bit before Lloyd and Ciara entered the park, Nuada was in his workspace adjusting his cross to be more optimized for battle. To be specific, he was extending the arms of the cross and compacting the pistol weapon racks to be able to fit the relative bottom of the arm. While he was adjusting the weapon rack, he was also readjusting the ammo belt feed so the bullets for the machine gun portion of the cross is fed from the relative top portion of the arms. To add more to his workload, he was thinking of either tuning the rocket launcher portion of his cross or replacing it with another place to hold ammunition.

Of course, he wasn't doing this alone. All of his assistants were managing different parts of the cross to hand Nuada; switching back and forth with items of importance and second hand opinions with other little details in assistance.

While they were all managing weapon repair and replacement, Alva had entered the shop partially bandaged. She then leaned against the counter and picked up a random red dust vial from a nearby shelf, "Want me to get those two? Its been a while since we last saw them" She asked when she pocketed the vial and looked at the specialized weaponry of the workshop. Impressed by the intricacy, simplicity, and exotic nature of some of them, she whistled 'I wonder if all of them were custom made' Then she saw one weapon in particular that caught her interest, a worn-out long rifle styled weapon which had many gears and several attachments on it. The attachments consisted of a long bayonet, scope, several areas which appeared to be removable for maneuverability or close range combat purposes.

Despite the seemingly large amount of ways it could be modified, the construction seemed very solid and well crafted, that is, if it didn't have a worn look to it.

"If you want to know" Nuada spoke out while he was finalizing the 8 pistol weapon rack and inserting it into the bottom arm "That weapon style, **átfogó,** belonged to elite hunters of the Silahlar workshop" He then started to load in bullets into the top arm "Regarded as a masterpiece for simplicity, yet effectiveness, reliability and easily maintained even when wet, smoldering hot, frozen, or even missing a part or two...It will still work" He had begun to doze off into his ramble when he accidentally dropped several large bullets on the ground "Whoops"

Alva stood there, waiting for Nuada to finish his business. To pass the time for a bit, she began to carefully rummage through the shelves for any useful tool she may take. While she was doing so, Bayard walked up to her holding up a bandolier that had multi-colored dust vials "If you are looking for something in particular, I recommend the concentrated volatile dust explosives" He had announced with a smile.

"Erm, thanks" Even though she owned some similar equipment, Alva took it graciously and placed it gently into her backpack.

"Thank you for your patronage" Bayard then ran back to maintenance with the others and Alva kept taking small things that may be of use, considering that no one wasn't complaining about her...actions. The following items included, and weren't limited to: Small knives, spare ammunition, syringes for restoring aura, health, adrenaline and pain numbing, and then another object caught her eye,

"The secret weaponry series?" The wolf faunus questioned when she spotted an array of weaponry that all had outfitting mechanisms and compact weaponry for concealment. "hidden blades...Concealed Tear gas/ smoke bombs...Boot knife...Knee mortar...Explosive Baton...Gun glove...Gun knife...Taser brass knuckles...Wow" Impressed by the vast amount of creative weaponry, some practically in question, she took the tear gas bombs only. Nuada looked over to her,

"Do you not carry any hidden weapons with you?" Nuada lifted his cross the check the balance and weight of it "Aside from your many weapons in your backpack" Without looking towards him and merely picking up a ring with a deadly poison needle in it, the faunus replied,

"It's true that having secret trump cards with you is important" She placed the ring back and got the hidden blades, gauntlets that had blades hidden under them "But most of the time, I hunt and get my prey without too much worry" She put the hidden blades on, flicked her wrist, and made the blade come out. She was palm striking the air and taking note of the potential damage with distance. Plus the maintenance if the blade got bloodied and so on.

After fiddling with the hidden blades for a bit, Alva made a bit of a dull yet a tiny worried expression. She slowly moved her eyes at the shopkeepers and questioned, "Uh...How do I get the blade down?" Bayard went over to Alva, messed with the mechanism for a little bit before the blade retracted back. The gauntlets were placed back and the hunter became bored of the slow pace of what was happening right now, "I'm just going to-"

Out of the blue, she had felt a massive shiver capture her entire soul and struck old fear in her bones. At first she had to maintain proper breathing before returning back to her original state. She began to run toward the door when she yelled out, "Follow me damn it!" With some degree of panic and even a hint of fear, she made a dash toward the location of interest. All the people in the workshop stopped what they were doing and grabbed their equipment with incredible efficiency.

Bayard carried an engraved hand-and-half sword which was moderately glowing in a white light and he had a long sturdy stick with a black metallic lantern with blue fire in it. Alby had a lance-like weapon which appeared like a drill and his left arm was encased in some sort of large rounded bronze-colored metallic weapon. Chloe wore a large rectangular steampunk-esque box on her back and nothing else. Nuada picked up his cross, slung it over his shoulder, and began to walk out the door with his team.

Without saying a single word, Bayard led the group to the destination...

…

…

…

Running at top speed, Alva was taking the shortest way possible by jumping rooftop to rooftop toward the feeling of fear, 'Don't let it be that one...Please don't let it be that one...' She remember the short demonstration of skill Ciara had demonstrated 'I don't care if you're strong...This enemy...Does not care if you are strong or not'

After she stopped moving, Alva had glared at the scene before her. The park, a place of scenic value and peace, was reduced to a depressing winter wonderland with ice crystals dotting a majority of the land mass, trees and grass seemingly froze in time. Above in the sky, there was snow dropping down gracefully to the earth below. But with each slight impact, the area around the snow had frozen solid immediately. What was worse was the fact that it seemed to be spreading. 'Why did it have to be this type of battle condition?'

Before entering the potential battle that might happen, Alva placed her backpack down and started to wrap bandoliers around herself. What were contained in the bandoliers were the syringes, very specialized ammunition, and the knives. The volatile explosives were then place in the pockets of her backpack for relatively easy access. Without hesitation, she jumped into the danger zone, avoiding the slow moving projectiles falling down and navigating her way to the epicenter.

…

It didn't take long for the wolf faunus to make it to Ciara's location, and when she did..."What in the..." She saw Lloyd in his beast form, on the ground, with both of his legs gone and black aura seeping out rapidly. However, his legs were growing back rapidly with a crystal substance closing the wounds and a black gunk forming around and creating new limbs. Now only that, but the fur growing was seemingly turning into thicker armor.

Ciara on the other hand was kneeling down, her scythe Nyx planted into the ground by the bottom spike, and she was holding it straight. Parts of her body had become covered in large ice crystals, otherwise, she seemed unharmed. But then she saw tears streaming down her face and there was faint mumbling, "Do I use my blade? What do I do? What do I do? How can I save him...Without killing him...and everyone..."

"Him?...Wait-" Alva looked around the area, attempting to find Lloyd, but to no avail. She then looked at the Grimm in front of her, who had just recovered his legs, lifted himself up with his arms, and then look at Ciara again. This time, he noticed the presence near her and smelled the air. All of his hairs stood up like finely tuned swords, he bared his fangs, and he unleashed a soul-crushing roar into the sky above. The once relatively passive creature was now on the offensive and had charged at Alva at break-neck speed.

Reacting quickly to the charge, the winter hunter shoved her quarterstaff into her backpack and pulled out her long-rifle bayonet armament. Just as the creature was swinging his clawed hand, all in one movement, Alva stepped in, aimed her bayonet at the inner-elbow, lodged it in,solidly bludgeon and placed the quarterstaff portion into the abdomen, then fired. The firepower of the rifle was enough to not only dismember the arm, but the recoil rocketed the quarterstaff into the hide, passing through the armor, and causing internal damage. However...

At that moment, Alva noticed that the foe she was facing had an absurd amount of poise and was kicked squarely in the chest, resulting in being sent flying and rolling on the rough terrain. When she readjusted her position, the beast was already coming forth with back to back relentless attacks.

Despite the fact that the Grimm only had one arm to attack with, the way he was moving compensated for that disability. With a monstrous and unpredictable attack pattern, the second he first hit and stunned Alva became a devastating chain assault. No matter what she tried to do, looking for openings within a span of 1 second, avoiding, blocking, aiming her weapon in a particular direction and even trying to recover from the last attack, Alva was becoming chain-stunned with deadly efficiency. It didn't matter if her armor was good, the amount of percussive force behind each strike had the capability to easily kill most people. Even if she was moving with the direction of the strikes to reduce the total damage output, she could not get out of the chain stun.

Several points, she was coughing up blood which had splattered in different angles onto the white setting due to the way she was handled, '4 broken ribs...fractured left leg and arm, internal bleeding, partial organ failure, collapsed lung...Anymore damage and-!" With the short time span for recovery, Alva pulled out 3 syringes, the numbing, adrenaline and healing types. When she injected all 3, her body became incredibly hot, her blood flow quickened and heart was beating out of her chest and she stopped feeling the pain. At one point, the Grimm had finally regenerated its missing limb, resulting in a higher damage per second rate. However, soon after getting his arm back, the brutal foe opened its mouth, wanting to crush Alva in between its bone-crushing jaws.

With her good arm, Alva grabbed five of the volatile explosive dust vials and threw them all at the beast's open maw. Once they all impacted, Alva shielded her eyes as the combined force of the explosive mixed was actually potent enough to almost catch her in the explosive radius. Immediately continuing her attack opportunity, she tucked the quarterstaff portion of her weapon under and through her armpit, shoved the quarter staff deep into the ground for stability, and fired several times. Due to the en mass of explosive power, not wanting to wait for the smoke to clear up, Alva pulled out a tear gas grenade and threw it into the chaos. To prepare for the worst, she proceeded to manually load in the special ammunition, pull out the volatile vial explosive bandolier, stab it with the bayonet, and letting it hang there. 'I can't believe I'm using this already, how convenient for my ally to be a workshop owner' For a quick second, she looked at Ciara.

Just a few moments ago, she was contemplating heavily and was a nervous wreck about the next course of action. But now, she is standing straight up with very dull eyes encircling her once childish demeanor, "I pray that..." She was mumbling some inaudible dialogue, but it appeared to be praying or steeling herself for her actions. Then, her scythe started to give off a deathly aura which seemed to embody misfortune and fear. For someone of Alva's heritage, this scythe emitted a different reaction than the death stare given by Ciara herself and the spine-tingling horror of the Lloyd's beast form. It felt like her own darkness was becoming forced out from the depths of her heart.

Holding her broken body, Alva tried to maintain her seemingly faltering mental state to the point she was hearing voices in her head, 'Are you really strong there, little pup?' She recognized the voice and began holding her head in shattering pain, "No no no! What the hell is this?!" She dug her head into the ground as her scars began to act up, her largest one being the most devastating. She screamed out in pain, the pain number and adrenaline she took completely being ignored as she was slowly drifting into her inner self. 'Remember this failure? Do you remember? The time you felt weak once again?' "Screw off! You fucking bastard!' She immediately got up from her position, ran to the nearest tree, and despite being covered in ice crystals, she was banging her head against the tree trunk and hard crystals. Blood ran down the beautiful, surreal scenery and her pale white skin. Alva ground her teeth together with such intensity that the teeth were chipping and her gums were bleeding slightly. 'Don't knock yourself unconscious now...You'll only make it worse...Seriously, stop it you idiot' At one final strike, Alva hit her head against the tree trunk and shattered the crystals. The pieces flew gracefully in the air as her head slowly climbed down the trunk and hit the ground, "Please..Don't..." 'Embrace and understand your darkness...Lest be devoured by it' Alva had lost consciousness...

...

...

...

The team of 4 that went off to assist Alva and Ciara in their fight against Lloyd's beast form resulted in the incapacitating of all of its members within the park. Nuada, Alby, Bayard, and Chloe were all suffering in their own fashion. Alby was screaming out fiercely as he kept drilling the ground with his drill lance and shooting the ground as well with his side arm. His eyes were that of a madman looking for blood.

Bayard had his lantern stick stuck into the ground with the lantern hanging over him, with a flame that was rapidly changing shape and darker shades of its original color. With a trembling hand and his entire body covered in goosebumps, his engraved hand-and-half sword was fluctuating in light frequency rapidly. He went on his knees, legs completely unresponsive, eyes blinded by tears, and the sword being impaled through the ground and both hands covering the pommel as if he were praying.

Chloe had her case resting against a tree when she was holding her head tightly with one hand, forcibly pressing the case with the other, and was losing strength in her legs while streams of hateful tears went down her face. She was attempting to maintain composure and her mental stability, but it is undetermined when she would begin to break down even farther.

Out of the 4, Nuada had the worst case, but had the most 'passive' break down as he had simply dropped his cross down flat, rested his back against it, and was holding his poisoning heart. 'This is not a good thing to return back to...' His eyes glanced over to his students when he said under his breathe "You bastards better not submit to your inner demons...I taught you to be strong...I am not letting my own students die before me...Damn it" A slight tear went down his face as he lost consciousness...

...

...

...

As everyone was suffering greatly, Ciara had impaled her scythe blade into Lloyd. The black aura that seeped out had begun to wrap itself around her scythe and it connected itself to Ciara. 'Everyone...I'm...so sorry' As she was connecting herself to Lloyd, she had cried for the last time...

 **What will become of everyone? What secrets do they all have? What is the power of Ciara's scythe Nyx? Who are these characters exactly?...  
**

Little facts:

Nuada's 'Cross of Silahlar' does have its own name. That name is **"The Redeemer"**. The Cross of Silahlar is a generic term for all crosses within the workshop.

Bayard's sword is named **"The Silverlight"** and his lantern is the **"Guardsman lantern"** also referred to as **"Soul Lantern", "Spirit beacon",** and **"Gravekeeper's lantern"** Variations between all variants of course. In Bayard's case, his variation is the **"Spirit Beacon"**

Alby's drill lance is named **"Bock spitze"** and his arm weapon is the **"Große Waffe"**

Chloe's 'weapon' is named **"** **ÓRFHLAITH"**

* * *

Aruna and Donn were camping within a Grimm infested forest. Both were not wearing their miner uniforms, but instead, Aruna wore fairly loose reddish-brown clothing and Donn had on a brown cloak. Though the chance of death lingered above the both of them at all times, neither of them seemed to care as both were taking in the peaceful scenery. Donn was sleeping on top of his cross while Aruna was maintaining his átfogó while it was in pieces on the tarped ground. While using various cleaning tools, Aruna spoke out, "So, how do you think that child is doing?" Donn waved his hand lazily in the air,

"Probably having a bad time..." After becoming silent for a few seconds, Donn replied with, "Do you think we will lose our own humanity someday?" Aruna was polishing his scope when he mocked,

"Oh? We still have our morals intact?" Donn tapped his cross several times before sighing,

"Well...Whatever we have to do in order to save our respective species" Aruna looked down at his work and froze for a moment,

"Yeah..." Noticing his lack of spirit, Donn was about to do his usual hearty spiel when Aruna clanged two solid pieces of metal together "Oh don't you dare do that again! You'll attract the Grimm!" With a hearty chuckle, Donn raised both his arms into the air,

"Attract? Please, more like decimate this entire forest of the population..." He sniffed the clean air and saw the bright blue sky, grand fluffy clouds, and the sun up above, "I wish we could have peace, don't you think?"

"Of course" The wolf faunus was cleaning the barrel of his gun when he stated, "But do you think my kind will be accepted after all of this is over?" Donn thought about it for a moment when he replied with,

"...Maybe, maybe not...We might still hate each other. Discrimination might be rampant...and" Aruna stopped his companion's words,

"You can stop now..." After putting down his weapon parts, the wolf faunus looked around him and remembered the location they were at earlier, "What about establishing cities where people can live in peace?"

"Hm..." He rested a hand on his chin "With how stubborn and persistent we are, I bet we can...But how long do you think peace lasts?" Aruna's ears perked up and Donn had gotten off his butt. A swarm of Grimm had converged onto their position. Aruna quickly assembled his weapon into the automatic weapon mode as Donn had set his cross up-right.

"If I had to say..." The cross had glowed a brilliant hue of blue and green. With his aura and using special dust, Donn had transformed his cross into an array of fairly ornate spears that still contain the ability to stab and slash. With his ability to manipulate the wind also, all of his spears are continuously and gracefully moving around him, his ally, and the battlefield, "Peace is only broken once the strong have failed" The hoard of Grimm charged as the two elite soldiers fought them all off with deadly proficiency...

...

...

...

After a short time of fighting had commenced, the last few Grimm were impaled into the ground and their body husks dissipated into the air. Neither of the soldiers were short of breathe or was even touched, "So then" Aruna had said, "What do we do when our actions have dire consequences" Donn looked into his direction with eyes that presented answers that had been given time and time again. Understanding the meaning, Aruna had nodded in agreement and the both of them continued to relax in peace...

"Why do we always repeat our words even if we know the answers ourselves?" Aruna questioned,

"Because we are flawed beings and we can forget even what lies deep in our hearts" Donn had replied...

"Do you...Want to make peace with the dead?" Aruna shuffled around a bit, asking a sensitive question almost near taboo between the two of them. Donn had converged all of his spears into one, recreating his cross. He dragged it along with the chain attached to it and headed out in a certain direction,

"Let us understand and embrace our darkness once more..." Aruna nodded as the both of them headed out to their place of old history...


	5. Chapter 5: Samsara

**I'm not sure if I should be surprised or not that not many people are reading this Fanfiction...Well, I'm still going to write it nonetheless. Yes this story is quite irregular in the sense that the original RWBY cast seems to be nonexistent, but there is a very specific reason for that. What reason is that, you may ask? Well if you are good at figuring things out, you will know or discover why.**

 **Though I do understand that you came here because it was a RWBY fanfiction...And considering the character's aren't arriving with even some sort of indication...**

 **Also, if you want to complain that "RWBY" characters aren't appearing...There are literally over 9000 RWBY fanfictions. You can go without one story of RWBY character's...right?...Hello?...Uh...**

 ***Story is unfollowed by almost everyone***

 **Crap, that didn't go as planned.  
**

 **Continuing on with the story now:**

Everyone has darkness within them. If we had the courage to understand and embrace the darkness, we find that all things are possible, and nothing is out of reach if we only give it form.

It is very easy to get caught up in the delusions around our suffering, our misfortunes, and our fears. We should lift our veils of illusions, to awaken our power and dismantle blame so that wholeness can be attained within each of us. We have more potential than we realize if only we would open ourselves and our hearts.

-The original wielder of the Scythe Nyx. The name has been deleted from the records...

The Silahlar workshop...In the beginning, even before mankind had discovered dust, those of this workshop were one of many groups who strove to maintain the survival of their fellow man. If there was an aspect of the Silahlar workshop that had gave them prestige were their...creative methods of the weaponry arts and diversity of its members. Even faunus were accepted.

An interesting thing about this particular workshop is the fact that it is a culmination of several groups and other workshops. As such, several teachings of various craftsmanship and ideology mixed for better and for worse.

When it came to weaponry, the Silahlar members practically, and literally, staked and drove their own aura within their art. The workshop members were truly one of the vanguards who had protected humanity from harm, yet...Such an influential part of history had disappeared long ago and only remnants of their existence remain today. It's not just like an old civilization who remains in ruins, but it was more synonymous to them disappearing nearly completely and only to be regarded as something of a myth, fairytale, legend, rumor or folktale.

Weapon artifacts, surviving members who kept their legacy alive even if very few, weapon designs passed on from the past, and even a few remaining workshops, even if vague, obscure or changed to beyond the originals. Those were what confirmed the existence of the Silahlar Workshop, however, even the primary sources are vague and stretched beyond belief. Otherwise, very little exists of the workshop. But why? What had happened for many people to just...Forget the workshop?...Or did it even exist in the first place? Maybe it followed under a different name...Who knows...

Or maybe it was just an umbrella term that was followed by the various groups, but said groups still kept their original name...

"Terminology...It's a pain in the ass"

-Easton

* * *

Far in the northern lands, a landscape of mountains and forestry, there lay a large nomadic tribe of hunters who were camping out in the dense frozen forest that was rained on by light snow. At the time, the sun was just rising and the members who were out on scouting and guard duties were returning for a rest or drink. The majority of the members wore either a fur coat, some type of robe or cloak, or just wore light clothing.

The tents consisted of rectangular, oval, hexagonal, and tepee styles that were all black, white, and tan-brown colored. The materials for all of the tents varied greatly and sometimes were a mixture of several. For some of the tents there was an opening in the middle of the larger ones, which released the smoke from furnaces or campfires. Despite the fact that these were nomads, their wagons were strewn-about that were covered with thick burlap sheets that had contained crank-operated Gatling guns under them. Not only that, but there were some people hidden in the tree tops with thorned nets, bags of caltrops, single-shot and lever-action rifles, bows and arrows, and even atlatls (Spear/ Dart throwers).

If that wasn't enough, there were fox holes which had hunters with winter-specialized sniper rifles, grenades, and whistle necklaces, each with their own sound and frequency. Every single one of these hunters had a special rigging and an appropriate amount of supplies to remain and hide in their area's for long extents of time.

At the time of these hunters' placements, they weren't even on high alert. This is their daily set up for intruders and hunting game. Sometimes even both if it was a good day.

Among them, like any other group, they have their fair share of recognized individuals. The most prominent of them are;

Bram the Blood Leper

Roi the blind executioner

Ardghal the frost knight

Conn of the highlands

Elva the Warrior saint

Eachann the Rider

And finally, Eirwen the war dancer...

In the midst of all of this, a young Alva was sleeping in her tent with her older sister Eirwen, who was a snow white beauty of the frozen wastelands. She was snuggling up to her side when the older sister had awoken. Raising herself while yawning, Eirwen had patted her cute little sister's head and adored her sleeping face...As always. Then, the moment was shattered when a dark skinned blindfolded human male in wolf fur pelt clothing, carrying a long wooden weapon that looked like a glorified paddle/ shovel, came in peeking through the flap,

"...What is it Roi?" Eirwen said with a cranky demeanor. Roi had retreated slightly back before replying,

"There is a very large Grimm up north on the mountain ridges. Some of the commanders were wondering if you would take your little joy for a cooperative strike with the away team...For good experience" Eirwen continued stroking her sister's white hair, ruffling it up and feeling the smooths hairs between her fingers,

"Eventually, I-"

"Don't raise your death flag, even as a joke, are we going, or no?" The older sibling was tapping her sister to awaken. When Alva woke from her slumber, she was rubbing her eyes and had a lazy expression. Eirwen glowed a wide smile,

"Alva my dear, you want join me on a hunt?" Alva suddenly lit up like a star and was practically jumping up and down for her sister. She was finally joining her sister in the hunt.

"Yes! Thank you big sis!" The little faunus hugged her older kin and the older kin embraced her back with a very contempt smile plaster on her. Roi stood back and face palmed his forehead while shaking his head,

"God dang it...Are we going now?" Eirwen nodded her head in response as she got both of their weapons. Alva and her black quarterstaff with only a few of her interchangeable weapon heads plus her own magnetite-coated greatsword, which had a ring crossguard as well. "Alright then, let's move" The three of them moved out toward a group consisting of eight hunters, all of which were veterans and well equipped. The group moved on to their hunting ground as Alva, as well as another person, observed them from a close distance.

"Ah...I was so adorable back then" Alva commented blissfully and nostalgically as she took in the familiar setting. However, this old precious memory was also a harbinger for her darkness.

"You got that right" A person appeared right next to her, from behind a tree. This man...was unnamed from Alva's recent memory. He had a fair height, was a bit lanky, and had an eccentric personality. He donned on a torn and tattered black-bleached cloak, black boots, dark-gray pants, plain black long-sleeve shirt, and had a bird-Grimm mask reminiscent of a plague doctor mask and a long-brimmed black hat. "Your sister is a beauty as well, I would have adored having both of you around if we were close friends" He bowed down, his right arm across his chest and his left was outward,

"Ah, sorry to disturb you at this time of nostalgia" He looked slightly up towards the disdained stare of Alva "...That's quite the look you have there" After standing back up, he pulled out a long metal cane with a flanged handle and started twirling it around while encircling Alva "I'm quite surprised you are containing your rage" He walked up to her, tapped her on the nose with his cane, and then walked around slowly with his back against her "I would've expected you to...Oh I don't know...Beat me half to death and feed me to the Grimm...While my decapitated head was watching" He slyly chuckled as he turned around on his heels and jammed his cane into the ground and tipped up his hat while putting all of his weight on his tool, "Why are you trying to murder me maliciously with all of your might...Miss Alva?"

Fists clenched, teeth biting on the tongue, a heart rate beating faster than humanely possible, and blood boiling to the burning point, Alva breathed out and stated, "Embrace and understand your darkness, lest be devoured by it...That is what you said" The mysterious man chortled lively as he raised his cane to his hat, put it on his cane, and started hanging it outward. This hat removal revealed his short, unmaintained hair which was almost all black except for one white hair coming out the front of his head,

"You are no fun lass...What about the character weakness and develop- Well..." He put a finger to his chin "At this point, I would say you developed already, just that no one has seen it with their own eyes...Buuuuttttt" He put his hat back on and pointed his cane at Alva again "You are here in your heart, so that means you are still flawed" Then he cocked his head to the side, turned to the right, and started walking in circles "Wait, being perfect is boring as hell...and being perfect in the first place should be impossible...and subjective..." He rubbed his short hair for a moment before turning around toward Alva and bowing down in apology "Thanks for dealing with my...Rambling...Now then" He pulled off his hat, tossed it into the air, and with one flick of a wrist the man revealed that his weapon was a bladed whip, of which he had free reign of controlling it's movements at will. Somehow.

He beckoned Alva to come straight at him, but when she didn't, he was immensely confused. At the time when he taunted her, Alva had her veins popping out in annoyance, she bit down on her tongue to the point of it bleeding, and she was thinking of happier times of beating the crap of someone. Before he goes on another ramble, Alva stated, again "Embrace and understand your darkness, lest be devoured by it..." She spit out a wad of saliva and blood "Don't get me wrong, I want to kick your ass and eviscerate your entire being...But I don't want you to devour my soul..." Once Alva said that, the bird-man face palmed himself with both hands and landed his knees into the ground,

"I hate it when characters aren't idiots!" Then he realized why she did so "Why did I even give you a clue on how to save yourself! What compulsion did I have to do that!" Alva stared at her 'darkness'' exaggerated drama with the most unamused expression possible,

'My darkness...Is this guy...This person who had become the reason I am like this...Had this type of personality...I...am speechless...How?...How in the world...' She then recalled the discrepancy between the man he see's now to the one who caused her strife many a time ago, 'Is this even the same person?'

When she was caught up in her own thought, Alva turned her attention toward the plague doctor, who was standing right in her face and leaning forward. The hunter was surprised, took a step back, and 'accidentally' slammed her enraged fist in the side of the man's head. The crow was sent flying into a nearby tent. He was groaning out in pain before he was stumbling back out with a head twisted in a particular angle, "So this is what 16 years of rage feels like" He joked as he grabbed his own head and realigned it.

His neck created a gross popping and cracking sound as he checked once more that he could still turn his head. Once he made sure he still had his head on his shoulders, he jumped up and touched the top of his head. He was silent for a second before realizing that he tossed his hat to the sky earlier. In a panicked hurry, he ran around parts of the nomad encampment looking for his lost hat. He completely ignored Alva the entire time.

Inside of her mind, Alva desperately wanted to laugh out loud and on the outside she did chuckled a little bit at the absurdity that her 'darkness' was demonstrating. Then at that moment, several shots rang out from within the forest. The wolf faunus didn't even look in that direction, as it was most likely some Grimm wandering near the camp. 'What did he mean by embrace and understand my darkness?' Alva wandered around the camp, at an attempt to initiate some sort of scripted rite of passage, event, or encounter someone who will get her out of the predicament she is now in. 'Even if I wanted to kill him for real, I now lost all respect of him...and the ability to take him serious'

Later on, the eccentric man found his hat lying patiently on top of some sort of tall wooden pole 'Is this for a flag or something?' He pulled out his bladed whip cane, whipped it around, and managed to get his hat back. However, the weapon didn't even have the appropriate range to even make it halfway to the pole. He casually put his hat back on, returned his weapon into cane form and attempted to find Alva, 'Now I think about it, how am I supposed to test her?'

Later, on Alva's side, she had a thought 'Wait...Understand and embrace my darkness...' Then she realized the massive problem with this situation, 'How in the world can I understand even half of that guy?!' She began to rub her own temples by the headache that may ensue 'Ugh...I'm so screwed'

...

...

...

After the young Alva returned back from the Grimm hunting, she was incredibly disappointed she wasn't able to participate because of the mob of Grimm that came out of nowhere. However, after that day, people had fallen ill due to some sort of unknown infliction. Even Bram the blood leper couldn't comprehend the problem that plague the clan, even with his special talent. With most of the tree-guardsman downed, Eirwen and Roi becoming taken out of commission, and even Eachann the Rider being sent out with his squad to obtain particular doctors and medical practitioners for assistance.

For an entire day and night, Alva sat beside her ailing sister's bed and tended to her while praying that the disease afflicting her people would be lifted. It wasn't until the second day, when the sun was rising over the horizon, where hell broke loose...

While sleeping right next to her sister's bed, a cacophony of shouting, guns firing, and people screaming like mad filled the air. Alva quickly moved her arms around looking for her sister when she noticed that Eirwen wasn't in bed. Immediately excited that her big sister was probably healthy again, and worried about what was happening in the camp the young faunus lifted her head to see her older kin pick up the magnetite greatsword. Wondering if her sister was going out to check out on everyone, Alva innocently sauntered up to her while saying, "Sister, can I go with you on-" Eirwen turned around and Alva noticed how the kind, gentle, and soft eyes her sister once had were now those of a blood-thirsty madman.

Alva stopped in her tracks. With heart frozen and eyes filled with doubt and worry, her legs shook as she began to walk backwards, "Big sis, are you okay?" As Eirwen was stepping forward, great sword in both hands, off to the side with point near the ground, Alva's mind was racked with concern, "Are you still sick?" When Eirwen swung her sword horizontally, it was directed at her beloved younger sibling's abdomen.

Still standing motionlessly, Alva felt something warm run down her lower body. When she touched her stomach, her arm shook as she saw her pale skin be painted in red. This realization of injury made her body feel the horrible pain of being almost cut in half. When she fell over, the young wolf faunus was holding herself tightly as she begun to feel colder than the temperature of the environment. Tears rolled out her eyes as her mind could not comprehend her loving sister doing what she did. While staring into the red eyes of her sister, she saw the greatsword point being raised toward her heart for a quick kill.

Alva closed her eyes and was still in denial. Her heart ached greatly as she screamed out into the tainted sky.

It was at that point someone had charged into the tent at high speeds, tackled Eirwen without second thought, took away the greatsword, threw it far away out the tent, and looked at Alva's predicament, "Damn it!" He screeched as he was pulling out very specialized chemicals on his person "This will help temporarily, just hold on!" He applied the solution on Alva's wounds, quickening the blood clotting process and giving new life to her cold body. When Alva opened her eyes, she saw the emotionless steel masked face of the blood leper. The blood leper was wearing an open beige cloak; the entirety of his skin was hidden with very thick leather and hemp clothing, which also had threaded armor plates covering most of his body. Under his cloak was several small waist satchels, bags, and other storage devices.

"B-Bram..." Without a moment lost, the masked man carried Alva off bridal style and ran off across the encampment "Do not open your eyes" while carrying her, Bram pulled out a sedative and injected Alva with it "Don't worry, you won't-" The rest of the words became blurred to the young faunus as she drifted into her own little dream world.

Alva of the present was walking across the red-drenched winter nomad camp. Around the once relatively-peaceful community she once held dear, it became a unrelenting force of hysteria. At the very least, most of those who didn't seem to be infected rallied together to fend off against their own brethren. Though many of them were, at heart, hesitant of their actions, they had no choice but to take them down.

It was until Alva encountered the crow man near the middle of the encampment the wolf faunus truly wanted to kill him right then and there. Then, the man held his hand out forward, "Hold it, hold it, hold it" He said quickly as he put his cane over his shoulder "I now know what you are supposed to do here" Then, from several angles, small numbers of the clan members' body parts could be seen flying through the air. From behind the crow was Roi, whose wooden weapon and he were soaked in blood and her older sister who somehow managed to get only her weapon bloodied. "If I'm not wrong, then you have to beat the ever-loving crap out of these two" He pointed at both of them with his thumbs "Then maybe beat the crap out of me" He pointed at himself next then he threw his arms outward like he was mocking a wide open hug "Come at me if you dare" Somehow, behind that mask, Alva could tell the man was smiling in either a cocky fashion or just a fun-loving child-like style.

Alva inserted her quarterstaff into her backpack and pulled out a halberd-styled weapon head. She got into a cautious stance when she stated, "I thought you said 'embrace and understand your darkness, lest be devoured by it' The crow cocked his head when he laughed out,

"Yes I indeed said that, but then I just remembered" He pointed at Alva "You understand and embrace people by beating the ever loving shit out of them" He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head "That was my bad, now then" He waggled his finger near himself "I never lie, except when I do, but this isn't a lie because you know it's true" Alva then thought about what her enemy just said. Then it dawned on her,

'I honestly could've ended it right then and there...The one time where I actually think before I act, and not think while acting...Ah screw me again!...I honestly cannot take him seriously' Roi and Eirwen both charged at Alva as the crow stood there crossing his arms while letting his cane sit in the snow in front of him.

The fight of the hunters had begun...

...

...  
...

* * *

Somewhere around a rocky, mountainous area, four very young lads and lasses in thick, durable clothing were in a large flat clearing with the mountain face on one side and a steep incline on the other along with three different paths easily connected to the clearing and one a suicidal march down hill. On the mountain face were several large holes that were designated to be mining areas or just more shortcuts. The flat clearing had a medium sized stone cabin which was surrounded with a work table,stone furnace, big metal cylinder vats, tool racks and several large stainless steel boxes along with several mining tools and training weaponry.

A silver haired boy, who was more muscular than he should be, but nothing truly absurd, was practice fighting Oona, a female black lamb faunus. And by fighting, it was actually Nuada receiving pain resistance training. He stood inside of a small circle and Oona was carrying a wooden hammer to make him either submit or knock him out of the circle boundary. Despite this method having a high chance of accidentally killing Nuada, or most people actually...He was not most people.

This young lad had a durability that far surpassed most people even in their young adult years. What made it more incredible was the fact that he was born with a troubling low amount of aura, as such, in perspective, he would've been more susceptible to injury than most people. However, he was also born with much denser bones than the average person, as such, it was actually almost impossible to break his bones...Unfortunately he cannot swim because of his bone density.

As the lamb faunus was about to bludgeon Nuada half to death with massive concussion damage, one of the meeker of the group was watching from afar from outside the cabin while the oldest looking of the group was with her. The older looking person had long red hair which was tied up considerably and the most significant part of his uniform were his large, yet comfortable, black goggles and the fact he was completely covered in equipment. He was ignoring the training session to work on his workbench with transformation weapons. The both of them were human, with the meek one being a pale, blonde-short haired little girl with lime-green eyes and the variation of her uniform being a...blacksmith dress.

"Ruadh" The little girl asked as Oona started to strike Nuada with all of her might,

"Aye?" He monotonously replied as he continued focusing on his work

"Who do you think will win this time, Oona or Nuada?"

"Hm...Carina, I would say...The one who gives out first" He cynically stated as he went to the metal boxes in search of extra parts. When he couldn't find any, he grabbed a nearby pickaxe, handheld mining drill, shillelagh and explosives, then started to walk up the mountain. The little girl said nothing to him as she was watching the two good friends having their usual training session.

As Ruadh was hiking up the mountain while using the shillelagh as a walking stick, he noticed someone sitting at the edge of one of the caves and looking down at where his comrades were. After noticing that his eyes were filled with a mix of nostalgia and regret, he left the man with the cross alone. He entered one of the many cave systems in the mountain and soon afterwards there was a very controlled, yet still excessively loud explosion. Afterwards, he was walking out of the cave covered in soot while carrying a durable sack filled with ore. He was picking as his still ringing ear, when he mumbled under his breathe, "Bah...Should've used less explosives"

Down at the clearing, the young Nuada was struck behind his leg, forcing him to take a knee. Then he was bludgeoned from under his chin, causing him to be tossed out of the circle area and be scrapped by the rough terrain when he landed on it. Oona slammed her hammer perpendicular into the ground and stood there with chest out forward while donning on a stern expression, "Nuada!" The silver haired youngin' raised his hand to interrupted her,

"I know! I know!...You crazy little..." The younger version went back to the circle again and began to receive an even more punishing array of strikes. Meanwhile, Ruadh walked passed Carina, removed his glove, ruffled her hair into a mess, and motioned her to assist him inside the cabin for ore refinery. The blonde little girl happily complied as she followed him very closely, like a little puppy.

The current-day Nuada sighed deeply as goosebumps rode his scarred body. He craned his neck over his shoulder and saw a figure leaning against the mined-out wall. His eyes immediately filled with disdain. This person was garnered in advanced equipment which consisted of a silver, white, and gold color palette. The design was quite sleek and very light, yet strongly built. The person also had three wings, two black, and one white hanging loosely to the left. The mysterious person's design strongly resembled that of a Hussar Warrior. There was a winged spear that the person kept by his side that was advanced only in the metal and wood it consisted of, otherwise, it was beautifully simple.

"Gerard" The man nodded his head as he got off the wall and approached Nuada without fear nor malice "You can feck off, I already know how to deal with you" Gerard held his head down in disappointment as he held his hand to his forehead, raised his head, then shook it. He raised his spear to Nuada at a distance. In a moment, the Hussar Warrior seemingly flew at him at the speed of sound, impaling Nuada in the back through the area where the heart was. The blacksmith was then raised into the air and tossed straight out of the cave entrance, 'Ah...This still hurts a lot' The next thing he knew, the silver-haired man noticed that the entire environment changed and he recognized where he was.

Wide-eyed, Nuada was staring at a familiar cobble stone and stone ceiling. He sat up quickly, noticing that he was in an old worn-out large bed. Looking around in a hurry, he saw that he was in his old room back in his original workshop. The old room consisted of a messy workbench, drawers consisting of either spare clothing or tools, and several books strewn about specific subjects like advanced dust crafting, advanced blacksmithing, and the science of hidden weaponry. Once he figured out where his own heart had sent him, he got up from bed, with cross in tow, and went out the door...

...

...

...

A young adult Nuada, while wearing a gasmask and carrying his Redeemer, was running through a large stone corridor which had appeared to be torn apart by some force of nature with large winding haphazard gashes in the mason work. Once in a while, he would slightly wince in pain at the ever-corroding condition of his right arm. The doors that were pattern along the wall were either shattered to pieces or weren't damaged that much due to being particularly reinforced. Once in a while there was a body or two followed by the irregular destruction that either appeared to be brutally cut apart with deadly efficiency or being crushed against the wall. The broken weapons they held and the shattered armor they donned on indicated that the majority who had died in the corridor were the more experienced members of the Massif workshop. Nuada took notice that a couple of the members were people he were particularly fond of, but because of what was going on, he had to continue on without mourning them, 'Damn it, Berg and Ingram were...' Even though they were hardly recognizable, the silver hair man knew far too well about them to just forget about even when they were in a different form.

Once he had breached through the partially broken barricaded doors at the end of the corridor, the young blacksmith took witness to a terrifying scene. Among the main hall, it originally consisted of a wide open arching room that was held up with strong stone columns and had very long wooden tables decorating the area. There was also five other branching corridors and a pair of large twin doors from one side of the hall with the opposite opposing doors just four semi-large metal-reinforced doors. There were large arching rainbow pained windows above the large twin doors of the hall.

The main hall, which counted as a conference area, cafeteria, and sometimes party room, was now a massacre.

The entire place was dead silent. Bodies of numerous members were strewn about with injuries and damage varying greatly. All of their weapons were tossed and broken about and around the place. Some had their weapons struck through their fellow members. With how some of them died, where they died, and the way some of the blood that came from them flew across the ground and walls; It was a brutally surreal image, both deadly yet somehow alluring. The sun-set lighting that shone through the large windows created some sort of mysticism about the scene, but that didn't help damper Nuada's emotions one bit.

In the middle of the conglomerate of dead members, there was a man in a black tattered cloak and wearing a crow's mask looking straight at the pane glass windows which was now shattered into sharp pieces; The doors under it were completely crushed into splinters and there was a white cat faunus cut in half laying there while still holding onto his white longsword. His equal was nowhere to be seen.

From disgust to scorn, Nuada clenched his fist and slammed his cross into the ground with enough force to shatter the durable stone, "Fechín!" An echo of hatred and grief in its purest form rang out in the empty room. As the silver-haired youngin' lifted his cross with his right hand; He suddenly dropped his weapon along with his severed arm which was still furiously latching onto his armament. Holding onto his severed limb, Nuada had streams of burning tears running down his face as he screamed bloody murder.

Fechín craned his neck toward the new arrival and said, in a surprisingly empty voice, "Ah, so it's you"

"Yes it is" The current Nuada replaced the young one who was standing right there. He placed his cross right in front of him, one side of the cross arm opened up to reveal eight pistols, "In the name of those who had fallen" He holstered all eight pistols, then rearmed himself with the rocket pistol Biehl and heavyshot pistol Brechen. Brechen was a large magnum with an exhaust port on the end of the barrel that was not only shining with glorious beauty but also pure wrist destroying power.

From his location, the crow man stood up and faced the silver blacksmith directly and without saying anymore words, the both of them clashed.

...

...

...

Ciara had entered Lloyd's heart. Once she had fully integrated herself with whatever lies in his inner being, there was something odd about the way it operated. Instead of seeing through the perspective of Lloyd, or actually interacting physically with him in some pseudo-environment created by memory, Ciara saw a multitude of perspectives which all depicted Lloyd in different fashions.

However, the most difficult part of the memory was distinguishing and picking out vital parts of his heart, which was made difficult with how many different...emotional perspectives there were. Screaming, whether for mercy, help, or to end it all, filled and echoed around the empty yet completely cramped space. Then it would go into an array of overlapping dialogue which was too vast in numbers to even comprehend. Then, after a seemingly endless stream of time, Ciara was slowly picking out events in Lloyd's memory. Even though it was proceeding slowly, the mission objective was steadily arriving, but sometimes it went into a completely different tangent.

"This is called an ocean" A man in his later years said as he casted his arm outward toward the view of a picturesque clean ocean reflecting the orange and yellow light of a sunset "Beautiful sight, don't you think?" Lloyd nodded "Ah, I thought so"

Another memory shifted to a scene of a burned down forest and a middle-aged woman carrying a metal lamp on a long stick approached him. She was whistling at the impressive amounts of copious destruction when she was looking down at him, "Ever heard of the Silahlar workshop?" Lloyd slowly shook his head "Ah..." She put a finger to her chin while thinking "What about a place called the moonlight-"

The memory suddenly shifted to another point in time. "...Are you even human?" By the time the words came out, not even the details could be placed. Then it became an incredibly incoherent array of no-context dialogue memory.

"You damn monster!"

"I'd say you're a hero"

"If you want to know about the world, here's a diary of a wanderer"

"See him? That is what you call a great man"  
"Mother fucking cheese!"

"Do you think a god exists in-"

"Kiss my a-"

"Lloyd-!"

"Argh-!"

"He-"

"F-"

"-"

"...Time to take responsibility for our actions...Am I wrong? Pretty sure I'm right..."

After much effort of localizing the memory fragments, Ciara finally managed to gather what seemed key to reviving Lloyd. Though it was still incomplete.

One scene had shown an incredibly young Lloyd in baggy gray clothing being hugged by someone of the same age, more or less, "...You feel so cold" A female voice had said. The room they were in was covered in cold stone, but it was well kept aside from the recent blood markings on the floor, wall, and ceiling. Lloyd smelled the air and noticed a rare scent waving through the, somehow, appearing wind. "You said you never been out...What do you think?"

"...It...smells new" The girl held him tighter,

"The right word is nice, Lloyd..." The memory proceeded to escalate quickly by changing the scene transition to the female bawling out in tears while she and Lloyd were being separated by a whole security team clad in black. The unnamed girl reached out to Lloyd, who was partially covered in the same stone in their room which was dangerously uneven. A particularly fast security member skillfully traversed the obstacles like it was never changed in the first place, pulled out a syringe and injected it directly into Lloyd's neck.

In a single motion, all of the security members were knocked aside by stone pillars destructively jutting out of the walls, ceiling, and floor. The one who injected the young Lloyd became launched toward the girl like a broken ragdoll and the memory ended there.

Another fragment had someone holding onto Lloyd's loose shirt collar and striking him repeatedly in the face while tears blinded him, "Give me back my sister damn it!" Then the sound of fire igniting and crackling filled the air. The boy had released Lloyd and witnessed him burning alive. It was until the fire started to falter when the young Lloyd replied, while holding himself slightly,

"Is this what warmth feels like?" His tone was dull and emotionless before the older boy who attacked him was electrocuted from the side and violently struck the ground while twitching rampantly. His last memory was of two people. A young-looking individual in a full heavy black security outfit with an emblem of three yellow arrows pointing up on his left shoulder. He carried a long metal pole that appeared to have a strong and constant fluctuating electricity flowing inside of it. The other man wore what appeared to be old, yet still durable and usable equipment. With an old pair of red-strained hard black boots, stained brown open cloak with latches and leather straps connecting it all, the outside of his person had poaches, and hooks, and his dull-colored full-metal helmet with small rectangular slits for seeing made the man appeared like an experienced torturer, jailer, enforcer and executioner all at the same time. His man catcher, which had seen far better days, complemented his appearance even more.

As the Jailer coldly picked up the once-enraged boy and slung him over his shoulder, the security guard went up to Lloyd, petted him on the head, then went out the room with his partner. When he was going out, he left an unwrapped piece of candy on the floor, a particularly irresistible type of sweets. Just as the door was closing, the older boy whispered under his last breathe, "bastard..." before losing consciousness.

"I- s-y" Lloyd said something out loud, but it was almost completely inaudible.

The next memory fragment demonstrated a very fidgety person standing behind the security guard and jailer as all three were inside of a dim, medium-sized cold white room. Strewn across the room were various types of frozen over electronic medical equipment, the majority of it being connected to an absurd amount of wires or somewhat and fairly bulky. In the epicenter was a column of ice reaching toward the ceiling and continuously growing outward slowly. The one who was near the middle was Lloyd, who had ice crystals growing out of his body, the most prominent area being his back and arms. What was coming out of his back as well were long thick tubes whose liquids were also frozen.

Every step he took, the floor below him would freeze even more and mini-ice crystals would grow behind each step. Sometimes the equipment around him would compress so much from the dramatic and continuous drop in temperature, that they were actually cracking apart. The jailer and security guard stepped back as the shaking person said, "W-who's b-bright i-idea was it t-to go this f-far?" The voice was that of a male in his teens, one who hasn't reached maturity yet, apparently. The security guard looked back at him,

"We brought you here for a reason" The jailer used his man-catcher to shove the anxiety-ridden teen right into Lloyd's path. Once he was in near-direct contact, the teen looked at the dead-fish eyes of the little child,

"I-is he" As the teen looked back at the jailer and guard, the unnamed guard reached his arm out while wide-eyed and yelling something. The memory fragment ended there and another one started.

"A failed experiment you say?" From the view of a scientist of the facility, the both of them were discussing the matter's about Lloyd within their absurdly cluttered office. Desks that were layered upon layered with papers, file cabinets that had boxes stacked against it that were heavier than the average man, walls littered with even more paper with pencil markings layering upon each one and connecting them, and four picture frames face down on the desk.

"Yes sir, the test subject had proven to be too unstable...The equilibrium of the body has become too chaotic...We must terminate him" The man's smaller colleague replied. It went silent for a bit before the main scientist responded back,  
"That would be a waste, would it not?" His partner looked at him like he was much more insane than usual,

"Sir..." The partner clutched his hands tightly as he looked at his old friend with eyes of sympathy "Brenin...Are you doing what I think you-" Brenin flicked the forehead of his assistant and chuckled,

"I don't need to explain myself" Brenin walked past his friend, but then he remembered something. He turned on his heels and raised an arm up while doing so, "Ah, who would be a good candidate? Aruna and Donn? Or are they now out of our connetion?"  
"Those two went on another pilgrimage, if I last recall"

"Ah...What about those wanderer's from the North, or the highlanders, or maybe one of the workshops?"

"Do you want Lloyd to die?" The partner was looking at Brenin like he was more like an idiot than a mad man,

"Ah...Okay, I got it now" Brenin began to walk out before saying, without looking back, "Dorian, prepare for a break out, I recommend Flavie to help you, that woman has been pissed off after what happened to the others" While still standing there, Dorian yelled out,

"Did you think about the possible repercussions of your actions?!" Brenin craned his neck back at his little buddy,

"Of course I did...I am a genius after all" Dorian had a very worried expression plastered on his face. Whatever he said afterward was meaningless as Brenin continued onward to his final purpose. The memory fragment had transitioned into some sort of pitch black place. Either the area was not well lit or for some reason the visuals were just non-existent.

'I truly wonder if this is the right thing...If anything, it is one of the worst decisions I could ever make...But, then again, I actually went through with the experiments...So many sacrifices...Well...I wonder if I'm strong enough to support Lloyd's entire being...Hah, what am I saying, of course I am...

...

...

If I brought you into this world, I will show you the world...

The memory fragments had fully developed into one. All of the cacophony of mixed time lines and periods had finally became bridged. At the final memory, Ciara was able to become apart of Lloyd's inner being and could actually interact with it...

A young child was wandering around the thicket of a lush green forest. On him, the young Lloyd carried a large backpack full of necessities and in his hand there was a book that had been ravaged by time, but still managed to be legible and somehow hold up. Despite the fact that Lloyd couldn't read, he still looked at the words, characters, and quality-drawings written into the book. It was at that moment that he heard a voice,

'Can you even read?' This voice was peculiar, not because it sounded dry, due to the fact that after it finished talking there would be a slight echo-effect. Lloyd looked around the surrounding area. Still having a dull expression, though with some curiosity at least, he began to walk around aimlessly in search of the mysterious voice. 'Are you serious right now?' He sharply said 'Can't you tell from the tone of my voice that I am in your head?' Lloyd stared to knock on his head softly, which annoyed the mysterious voice, 'Oi! What do you think you're doing? Tch, you know what? Never mind, just...just show me the book' When Lloyd looked at the book again, the voice seemed stumped, 'Ah...oh...Well crap, I take back what I said, I can't read too apparently' Then the voice seemed to shudder and in turn Lloyd felt a powerful presence freeze his spine in place.

He turned in the direction of the source and saw a well-dressed masked little girl carrying a scythe somewhat too big for her. She was casually strolling up to him when she casually said, "Hello there Lloyd" When she had smiled brightly, it was a calming experienced that Lloyd had become enamored with. However, what was supposed to be a refreshing experience was the opposite for how his body was responding. When he was stepping backwards, preparing for a quick dash away, the girl strongly grabbed his skinny, pale cold forearm "Where do you think you're going?" Her eyes, which were quite empty, had a mix of yearning and somber.

When Lloyd tried to pull himself away from the mysterious girl, he was unable to budge even one centimeter, 'Either this...girl is strong as hell, or you're just weak, heck maybe it's both, I don't know...But I don't blame you' His inner voice commentated as he was shoved into the ground. With the girl over him, Lloyd saw the cold resentment that swallowed up the girl's light,

"Hey, I know you're in there" Her tone was dead and cold, like she wanted to murder him. If Lloyd's entire body wasn't cold already, then he might've been frozen to death by the gaze. "Get out...Now" It was at that moment when Lloyd felt an intense amount of pain within his body, even his being. He felt like he was being torn apart from within, and as such, he screeched out in immense pain and he thrashed around violently. The girl held him down with an incredibly amount of force to the point that his bones started to fracture.

An array of dark-colored dust crystals grew from his body, all of which were like an assortment of rainbows, but eventually, all of them turned pitch black and dark purple. After he stopped violently flailing around, Lloyd suddenly came to a perfect stop, allowing nature a few seconds of silence. It was at that moment that his mouth open agape and a black fog was seeping out in great volumes. Ciara suddenly got off of him and waited for the process to finish.

Once the fog immersed itself onto Lloyd's body fully, the person got up and stood there motionlessly and with head down. He started moving again once the fog stopped swirling around. What covered Lloyd was several patches of long thick pepper-black and white hair across his body. His murderous gaze struck at Ciara, but it didn't make her flinch.

"So" The voice was a disorientation of both Lloyd's the the original beast's own, "You're the 'mother' I see" He cracked his head, making a loud popping sound "...What do you want?"

* * *

 **How in the world will this story develop? Will it take a long time to get the next story out? Would it be better if I revamp this story to be stand-alone on another site? Only time will tell...and whether people hate this story or not.**

 **Seriously though, I think people really don't like this story...**

 **Probably because of the lack of RWBY characters...**

 **Yup, definitely the RWBY characters...**

Extra information: Or assistance if you missed some information.

As said previously, the Silahlar workshop is a congregation or cooperation of several existing workshops. As such, it can be referred to as the "main" one.

Nuada's workshop has been mentioned once this chapter, and if someone had missed it, or thought it was a misspell, it is called **"Massif Workshop"**

Bayard's group is named **"Moonlight Workshop"**

and for extra information, Alby's group is named **"Ritter Workshop"** and Chloe's is the **"Specialists Workshop"**

Purpose/ specialization of each one (If you haven't figured it out already by some details)

Massif: Mining, blacksmithing, gunsmithing, etc. They also encourage creativity and the production of weapons of mass destruction if you manage to figure out how to. Sometimes, they also make good mountain climbing guides.

Moonlight: Medical, purification, Grimm purging, and lifting morale, spirits, and your mental well-being. In short, they are like clerics who took a step in badass.

Ritter: Known for being able to give weapon prosthetics to amputee's, having a knight-motif on top of steampunk theme, and being hired as bodyguards, mercenaries, or to show off. In short, MECHANIZED STEAMPUNK KNIGHTS.

Specialists: Versatile and varied, their members all each have a specified role and train in that role to the limit, though they also dabble in other aspects of combat or intelligence to avoid over-specialization. But their greatest strength, or at the least some of their best aspects, is their hidden weaponry.

* * *

-A section of the chapter that was cut from the main storyline- ***Optional reading*  
**

Presumably from the perspective of one of the facility's guards, a short-haired blonde woman was drinking and sitting with five of her comrades in black in a rather dimly lit break room. When she slammed the glass bottle on the table, it shattered into multiple pieces, causing anyone around the immediate area to cover their eyes.

"bah, screw thsese scientists" She snapped her fingers and one of the guards threw her another glass, this time a clear alcoholic drink, presumably vodka or something of similar strength. The woman guzzled down the vodka in one gulp and slammed the bottle to the table, this time it didn't break, "seriously, kwe wlost hgood men protecting their little experimenst tand wohat mdo we ge?t" Her fellow soldiers were staring at her and passively drinking various types of soda. By how some of them were smiling, they were enjoying their colleague being drunken off her rocker, "ai siapd , yfou knjow what we get?" One of the sober soldiers took a sip of his drink before replying,

"Eh...Nothing but shit?" Rocking back and forth in her chair, the female soldier stood up and leaned in very close to the one who responded,

"aye, that's exlctay its" She fell back into her chair and then started sobbing away her problems. No one in the room wanted none of the drama that was to ensue. Unfortunately, those who were at the table were left for dead. "we lots so many good men! 'im still single and somoe rof my candidates hwad been taken out odf commissionv!" One of the table-mates noticed the wording,

"Oi, what about us?!" He pointed at her, accusing her by going either by looks or because she didn't like them. Unfortunately, that soldier misheard/ misinterpreted part of what his drunken brawler of a comrade he had. His arm was grabbed and somehow by miracle of defying some laws of physics, he was thrown across the room. The woman soldier looked at him with pure wandering eyed wrath, then proceeded to put both her hands on her hips, leaned forward and scolded

"i said some youu uitiod!" She sat back down in her seat and began mourning the loss of some people. She face palmed against the table, almost knocking over some of the guards' drinks in the process "losing so many mefn because of a fsingle cwhildw't.a..hs sso sbpecial aboaut him? the swadisitc bastuards ayre abusign and toying with sa child with dust and shit!" She sat back in her chair and tried to balance on the two back legs, "what tragedy wimth the bvhrrsteo, eveqroyne losebs loved onesp, obne of them i found quite cute!...ahhhhhhhhhh" She fell backwards and was on the brink of losing consciousness "that little ikd looked cuvte though, in ma way...i realfly want to..." She finally fell to sleep and the soldiers of the table all picked her up and escorted her to the guard quarters.

"Any idea what she just said?" The rest of the soldiers shook their head 'no' and went along with their day.


	6. Chapter 6: Enervation

Connections are everything, it is what runs society after all. You may be skilled, experienced, intelligent, or just have luck on your side, but even with all of that, if you don't have certain connections, then you cease to function. Even if you worked hard in what you strive for, and you fail anyway...Did you ever establish a connection with particular people? Did you even prepare? Or did you really think 'hard work' was the only factor to achieve a goal.

Even if you were absolutely perfect and excel in many fields, then one should know that one of the most paramount things to achieve is establishing connections with anyone and everyone. After all, one day, one moment, someway in some fashion, by some contrived or convoluted flip by chance or fate, someone may assist you like it were a deus ex machina from the gods themselves.

You may have wisdom, intelligence, strength, or what have you...But information is paramount and the ability to use that information is key. The strength of want is what drives many people and when one loses that motivation, then they are reduced to monotonous cold shells. Even worse when they forget it in the first place.

...

...

...

From outside of the hearts of the suffering characters; Chloe was hugging her metal box with such force that there was actual metal deformation occurring and as for Alby, he had stopped attacking the ground with fury and was now in a state of passive deep depression. He was grabbing his drill lance, bock spitze, with both of his hands and he held his head against the handle while silently crying. Bayard was still in his praying position, his sword's light fluctuated rapidly and strongly while his lamp fire kept vibrantly dancing and became much more larger than its former self; Yet it was still contained.

"H...Hol...ld...on" He was chocking out words while his ears and nose were bleeding out. His heart kept beating faster and harder, completely damaging itself in the process to the point of no return. "Ha...Tch...ah...C...A...N..." His breathing was labored, irregular, and then he was coughing up blood at higher intervals. The snow around him started to melt away, his good friends' mental status had started to improve, as far as he knew, it did alleviate some grievances, maybe even preventing their breaking point. The red haired man started to grin despite his own pain.

In his own head, a wave of old memories were sharply stinging and stabbing his brain. Blurred flashbacks rang out through his mind and with each alteration of event, Bayard could feel the emotional distress and impact, indicated directly through his tears.

His lantern's glass then started to fracture and the fire was seeping out in copious amounts of force. The tool might as well have been a concentrated flamethrower. It was at that moment, Bayard felt a sharp set of blades hanging over his entire neck. He violently glared up at the one who wielded it, a plague doctor dressed character in a dark colored worn patchwork robe, traditional white plague doctor mask, and long brimmed hat. The weapon behind him seemed to be some sort of modified double-edged twin scythe with small hilts coming out the opposite side of the blades and a rounded bit in the middle of the shaft. The weapon he wielded against Bayard was a man catcher covered with some studs on the outside of the head and slightly more 1/3 down the shaft.

"Ah..." Bayard's mouth open agape as he focused all of his strength on maintaining the fire "This...Is..." The man catcher's inner blades had punctured through his neck and blocked the throat air way. Due to this, Bayard was suffocating and had blood accumulating from up and out his mouth and some going into his stomach. Still conscious, Bayard noticed the man dropping his man-catcher and pulling out his specialized scythe. He saw that the weapon be transformed into a pair of incredibly morbid scissors, with the rounded bit being the main join and the handles assisting in cutting.

Just as the scissors were coming around towards his neck, Bayard presented a character-breaking smile of both reward and psychopathic nature as the lantern shattered and his silver light sword became reduced to a dull-gray state. Fire seemed to ignite the surrounding area ablaze, though, somehow, instead of intense rage, it felt warm, despite how it appeared...

...

...

...

Outside the park, police personnel had closed off sections of the park which they deemed dangerous once their own men started falling to the ground and writhe in pain. Just as they were organizing a way to bypass the 'field of despair' as someone dubbed it, a brown-skinned middle-aged man with disheveled brown hair and lazy dull blue eyes wearing a bartender outfit came walking up to the one in charge of the police operation while taking swigs of his canteen,

"And who in the hell are you?" The head of the operation questioned as the bartender saluted,

"Ello~" He said in a friendly manner when he shook his head, coughed, and sputtered out to become sober 'Ah...Sorry 'bout that, just...drinking away for the sake of it" He casually stated as the captain visually seemed incredibly irked by the drunk man. He put a finger to the bartender's chest and barked out,

"No civilians allowed past this area!" Then he realized something "Wait, how did you even get close to me?!" He decided to look where the mysterious drunk came from and saw that almost every single cop that stood in the man's way was knocked out cold. He looked to the officers next to him and yelled out, "How the hell did you not notice someone casually kick our asses?!" One of them raised his hands in defense,

"We're just as surprised as you are!" The bartender nervously chuckled and grinned happily as he took another drink. Once he stopped, he said,

"Well~ I am not your ordinary citizen" He cricked his neck and scratched his back. Just as the captain was about to say something, the bartender put his finger against the man's lips to shush him, "I am just your ordinary bartender, who shall not be named...Now then!" He threw his arms up and suddenly charged ahead of the barricade. The other officers tried to catch him but then he fell down to the ground,

"Damn it!" The captain slammed his fist against the barricade "This is why we told people to-" Suddenly, the man rose from the ground, staggered a bit, and after a bit of walking he regained composure and sense of self. Completely wide-eyed, the captain and his men were baffled as to how the man managed to not be affected much by the 'field of despair'. The bartender smacked against the side of his own head a couple times before taking out a flask and drinking it. After finishing part of it, he looked back and said,

"By the way, if anyone was inflicted by this event, then call Mei company for assistance" He then threw a card which the Captain caught with accurately. With a quick glance, the Captain stared stoically at the very cutesy company logo, address, and phone number. While the bartender was walking to the epicenter of the oddity, the captain was confused on who Mei Company even was and questioned his men on the legitimacy of the group.

"Who the hell are these guys?" He pointed at the card as most of his men took a gander at it. Out of all of them, one just so happened to know some information,

"Ah, that's a sort of handyman/ multipurpose/ odd job company...They literally do everything and anything at a certain cost, depending on the work of course" The captain looked at his subordinate with a raised eyebrow,

"And are they reliable?" The captain wondered how he hasn't even heard one peep of this group,

"Oh most definitely"

Once the bartender had been gone from the eyes of the police, he spat out a thick wad of blood onto a nearby frozen tree. This caused some of the ice to melt off and effect some of the ground as well.

As the bartender continued walking through the partially frozen park, someone was calling him through his scroll. When he picked it up, he was blasted with a loud volume of yelling, this time from an older-sounding female,

"Leonard you lazy and crazy bastard! Wait for us!" Leonard the bartender held his scroll away to avoid another shower of screaming. That was when he noticed a giant explosion of fire out in the distance. He quicken his pace, ignoring whatever hint of information, warning, or order the woman over the scroll was barking. Once Leonard had arrived at the border of the fire wall, he looked at the dancing fire like it was some sort of modern art. Cautiously, he pulled out a different flask, drunk a tiny bit of it, then spit it out upon the raging inferno. Once he saw that the special alcohol did not ignite brilliantly, Leonard casually stepped into the fire without fear, or an apparently sense of self-preservation.

A warm feeling equivalent to nostalgia engulfed the bartender and he could smell a scent that reminded him of quality, sweet alcohol. Then, his expectations were shattered once he smelled a familiar horrifying stench. Snapping back to reality, Leonard looked around him and saw that he was standing in an underground spring. The place was lit by blue light lanterns, some knocked over and even broken, and moonlight through a large hole in the ceiling. He looked around the blue, peaceful and serene atmospheric springs and saw something disturbing.

Over to where the moonlight shined most prominently, there was a rising rock formation. Dripping down the rock wall was continuous strands of blood that poisoned the clean blue waters of the springs. On top of the elevated rock platform was a heavily panting and bloodied Bayard holding his silverlight sword, which was doused with blood, and under him was the eviscerated corpse of the plague doctor who attacked him. His soul beacon lantern was hanging outward with the stick planted inside of the rock. The fire was burning strongly with the shine of the moon. The red haired man wasn't without wounds however as his neck was heavily punctured with long scratch marks indicating near-decapitation.

He held his head up high, raised his arms to the moon, and laughed maniacally with the tone of madness and wonderful bliss. "Finally...I got him! Everyone! I got him! Ayla!" When he said that name, he suddenly started choking on his tears "I got him!" His changed voiced echoed around the springs as the bartender witnesses the fruition of a person's despair horizon.

'Why was it a good idea to bring him along in the first place you damned blacksmith?' Bayard still looked upon the shattered moon and his eyes shone a brilliant hue. His mouth open agape and blood started spilling out in minor increments, then he started to cough out incredible amounts of blood. The easy-going bartender scratched the back of his head and wondered 'How in the world can I handle this? Do I beat the evil out of him, or...do I have to purge him?' In another section of his mind, he remembered an atrocity he did involving the execution and imprisonment of a nomadic village. He immediately bit on his tongue to the point the teeth punctured the pink flesh, he took out a flask and then drank. This made the old memories fade into obscurity.

Soon after, he spat out a wad of blood and stared at Bayard. 'I'm spending too much time here, damn it!' Leonard pulled out a clear flask and dipped it into the spring water. After filling it halfway through, he added in his own concoction, which somehow he keeps on his person. After mixing it a little bit, the liquid substance glowed an array of blue tints and hues 'Here goes nothing' He gulped the majority of the flask down his throat in one go, wiped his face from any excess liquid and then dumped the rest into the surrounding water by broad casting the contents all over the area. "The preparations are done" He looked toward Bayard and whistled at him. The man who was worshiping the moon was now focusing attention at Leonard.

"...There's more of them" His eyes sharpened like that of a predator and in the moonlight, something changed. His sword began glowing like the moon and his spirit beacon lantern's blue fire had turned into silver and white light. His appearance, despite that of a broken man, was somehow hauntingly beautiful by the atmosphere, "Purge...the inquisition!" In his eyes, Leonard was garnered in an outfit similar to the one he just killed, except without a plague doctor motif. What he wore was an executioners longcoat, a lead mask, and devices tied to him made specifically for incinerating people.

In a single moment, Bayard went at Leonard with the white fire following him and actually managed to strike his sword at where the 'executioner's' heart should have been. The red haired man smiled but then his maddening persona had been caught out guard once he saw the 'executioner' smile back at him. In a rush, the white fire that followed Bayard had struck the man and ignited him. In a panic, the mad man pulled his sword out, but it only resulted in him being showered in burning hot blue fire when the flame rode across his sword and then onto him within moments.

Because of the agonizing sensation, Bayard was screaming out in blood curdling screeches. In a single movement, Leonard grabbed a hold of Bayard's throat and shoved him into the water. Suffocating from both the strong grip and drowning, he violently struggled when Leonard's arm had ignited the water. Whatever laid within Bayard was being forcibly burn, with him along with it. The purging fire along with the special properties of the spring water was an unbearable pain which he wants to scream out to alleviate some of it. This only brought him only futile struggles as the one holding him furthered his grip strength and the searing burning liquid entered his systems.

Once Bayard stopped moving, Leonard coldly dragged him out of the water and laid him on his side. He dropped down to the ground and sighed while holding his burnt arm and wincing at the pain near his heart. He looked down at Bayard with pity as he looked toward the open entrance to the shattered moon. Curious about the body, Leonard forced himself to move and waltz to the eviscerated body of Bayard's source of pain. He didn't react much to the brutal scene that laid out in front of him. Stoically, the man searched the body and found the insignia of the inquisition. The symbol consisted of a cross fashioned partially into a sword and in the middle of it there was a skull.

Leonard pocketed the symbol and then started to walk toward Bayard when he felt a sharp headache. He grabbed his head then immediately reached for his flask when his heart started to burn as well. "Shit!" He opened his mouth and a spray of thick blue fire erupted outward. He put his hand over his mouth to contain the purging fire within himself. At one point, his entire body was becoming engulfed, increasing his pain from both outside and inside. He continued walking a couple steps, each being irregular and staggering from loss of concentration and overpowering torment.

Eventually, his fire faltered and he was left fatigued and worn. With irregular heartbeat and breathing, and while coughing heavily, he picked Bayard up bridal style and escaped the area he was in...

As he was leaving, he could feel the memories that scourge him seemingly disappear like they never existed...

...

...

...

'Roi the executioner...Eirwen the war dancer...' Both of the afflicted hunters were quick, agile, and nimble. Eirwen's magnetite greatsword not only had incredible reach, but also was perfectly balanced, leading to a vast variety of viable offensive and defensive strategies. Roi's wooden weaponry are made from a special material which allows the weapons to be durable and hard hitting. His glorified pole-shovel wasn't the issue, but the quarterstaff he carried on him will be the problem. The one who had attacked first was Roi, who was currently using his quarter staff.

The man in fur pelt clothing was utilizing his quarterstaff like it were a sword. He was running at Alva and the wolf faunus thrust her halberd forward. The way she thrusts was like a pole-cue; having one hand at the bottom end move the shaft while the second hand lets the shaft slide through. The blindfolded man batted the stab, went in close, and viciously struck Alva upward to her chin.

After releasing several brutal strikes in close proximity, Roi wrapped his hands behind Alva's neck, lowered her down, then proceeded to knee strike her face, chest, and abdomen. This broke her nose, slightly blinded her, loosen a tooth or two, and re-broke a rib or two. Despite being stuck in yet another chain strike, Alva was still competent, and crazy. At this range, her main hand chocked up to the head of the halberd and manually disengaged the locking mechanism. Due to the custom head design, the part that connects the weapon head to the quarter staff is elongated for the sole purpose of holding it in-hand under specific circumstances...Plus to ensure that the weapon is a solid construction even when dealt with severe damage.

The staff dropped to the ground and just as Alva was about to stab Roi with the spear-bit, she realized that Eirwen was still in the battle. She adjusted her body positioning by quickly bending her knees, tucking her neck in, and then smashing the top of her head against Roi's face. She quickly turned around, kicked the opponent squarely in the chest, then was about to recover and acknowledge Eirwen's position on the field when her leg was grabbed. When she tried to quickly stab Roi in the eyes, her thigh was elbowed and her other leg was swept under her, causing her to fall down.

Snow flew everywhere and without a second lost, Alva remembered where her staff had dropped. Picking it up in perfect timing, she looked toward Roi who was in mid-swing with his shovel-pole weapon. The next moment, all in a single movement she lunged forward, stopped the momentum of the strike by solidly putting the quarterstaff in between the gap of Roi's two hands and then using the halberd spear point toward his neck.

What should've been a fatal blow ended in an unexpected action. Due to the range between the two and the possibility she could lunge again, Roi lowered his entire body and looked straight at Alva. He took the spear point to his left eye, clenched his teeth hard, dropped his weapon, quickly wrapped his right arm around Alva's weapon arm and was about to leg sweep Alva when she jumped into air. Due to the fact she had actually jumped over him, his arm ended up going into an odd angle, partially snapping some tendons and dislocating a shoulder bone, and bringing him to the ground due to the weight of an entire person stressing on his arm.

After being released from the grapple, Alva, who still had her quarterstaff, was about to shove it into the halberd head still lodged in Roi when he immediately got back up and kept his distance. With his only weapon being his quarterstaff, it was now a fight of the simplest type of weaponry. Alva dropped her backpack, which compressed the snow under it considerably, and was preparing for a very deadly sparring match. She quickly reached into her backpack, grabbed a couple of volatile dust vials, disturbed the fragile balance of them slightly, then put them in various pockets of the bandoliers and bags she had on her person.

This action caused Roi to pay close attention and remember the troubling possibilities the vials may cause. In response to his dislocated shoulder bone, he forcibly snapped it back into place, which made a gross crunching sound. He flexed the finger of hand and tried to move around, but noticed how he had lost some faculties of movement for his arm.

Alva quickly glanced over to the plague doctor and saw that Eirwen was still standing there. She had her greatsword over his shoulder with the hilt and crossguard being the resting spot while she held the pommel. Returning her attention back at Roi, she felt a great weight lifted off her shoulders and she stretched a tiny bit before attacking. She grinned arrogantly then smiled at the bloodshot eyed yet still stoic hunter that was before her, whom was awaiting an opening to attack.

"It's...Been a long time since we last fought each other" Changing from a low, slouching position to a more straighten posture, Roi's staff was to the ground when he quickly spun it to be held like a sword yet again "I wonder who will win this, student...or teacher" Alva said the last part sincerely and she noted if Roi had any indication of emotional change. From what she could see, there was not a single hint of sudden twitching or even a drooping weapon or posture from the comment she made, 'Looks like going for emotional values didn't work out...However the injuries I gave him...'

Ready for bludgeoning each other to death, the two old comrades ran at each other without any screaming or anything; just pure understanding of the results. When in close proximity, Roi swung his weapon and before it gained proper momentum, Alva tried to block it with her quarterstaff and then thrust forward. However, Roi learned from the earlier attack and choked the staff downward, avoiding Alva's grasp, then immediately extended the length of the pole to Alva's neck, knocking the wind out of her. Due to his limited movements, this strike had much reduced power.

Stunning her temporarily, Roi was going to swing his staff when he noticed Alva reaching for her waist bag pocket. Once he had swung his staff toward her arm, Alva immediately lifted the targeted arm, and the one holding the quarterstaff was in an overhand grip. Once the staff made contact, a quick force of incinerating heat blew across the immediate area, melting the snow, catching both fighters on fire, and almost hit the two spectators if Eirwen didn't step in and somehow negate the oncoming firewall in one slash of her blade.

Judging from how the fire seemed to still be burning on the ground, and quickly eating the surrounding tents, the dust concentration must've been insanely crafted well for the effect it did. The place now became a fire arena.

Due to his equipment, Roi was particularly burning horribly, his flesh was burning, and his opponent seemed to be carrying clothing that was fire-resistant to some degree because she was hardly ignited severely. However, the area where the fire first erupted seemed to do massive damage judging by how scorched one side of her body seemed, how much she was shaking from the pain and how she was holding back screaming pain. Plus, considering the explosion broke his weapon, the damage on her pelvis must be severe, most likely fractured.

However, the man himself was in a different status. Both of his hands had received massive hand shock, his weapon had been shattered in two by the force of the explosive device, his right arm was damaged and he was burning alive. With one swift movement, the absurdly stoic hunter removed his pelt, despite the hand shock, and gripped his broken weapon firmly as best as possible. He threw the burning coat at the faunus and noticed how the quarterstaff struck the coat and was headed in the direction of the weapon head in his eye.

Without delay, he moved laterally to the right and tried to take advantage of Alva's blind spots. However, he had forgotten that Alva recognized the disability he had in his left eye and right arm. By a quick assumption, Alva guessed correctly the area of attack Roi may strike from and readjusted her strike point. Noticing the trajectory change, Roi rapidly changed his footwork and moved backward when Alva launched the still-burning wolf pelt at him. At a moments notice, he stepped away from the burning clothing to avoid any kind of extra conflagration.

It wasn't until he recognized that Alva had reached into her non-destroyed waist bags that he knew that the opponent had an absurd amount of secret weaponry. Judging by how it was carried, it was most likely throwing knives. The blindfolded man immediately tried to close in the distance when the knives were thrown at him. He either dodged or batted away the knives, depending on their danger level. But it wasn't until he noticed the vial-shaped projectile flying at him. Not only that, but Alva was moving quickly from the side as well.

He took precedence on Alva's attack, but then he saw that she had suddenly stabbed her quarterstaff into the ground and moved away. Roi took a quite smell of the air around him, and side from the smoke, he noticed a pungent odor in the air "Ozone" He quickly tried to move out of the way of the dust vial and reached for the metal weapon head in his eye. The dust vial that flew at him was glowing bright yellow and was primed for midair detonation. Once it exploded, a storm of electricity had consumed the area, which was already on fire. The scattered knives and the fact Alva's quarterstaff is made of metal created a haphazard lightning rod array which, for the most part, put Roi in the center of electrocution.

The weapon head lodged in his eye was the key component for the concentration of electrical strikes.

After the onslaught of electrical output, Roi was left standing there, partially fried, hair slightly fuzzed. To ensure her teacher had been felled, Alva quickly grabbed her quarterstaff and was doing an overhead swing when, by some miracle hinging on sheer bullcrap, Roi grabbed the staff. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" it wasn't until Roi tilted his head, gave a warming grin which struck nostalgia to Alva's old past, and then giving his last breath.

The man had died standing defiantly while the world around him burned and crumbled.

Alva slid the quarterstaff from Roi's hard grip, planted it onto the ground, removed the weapon head from his eye, reattached it on her staff, and breathed out heavily in exhaustion from the fight. The amount of fatigue Alva went through might have not been the worse, but the mental racking of fighting her superior and friend was taxing. In fact, for the first time in a while, she cried a little bit.

'I barely won...And it was through luck...' She thought and she tightened her grasp on her weapon.

The sounds of clapping broke through the fiery encampment, "Very good" For some odd reason the unnamed man said it very deeply "If both of these hunters attacked you at once, you definitely would've died" he breathed out loudly "Fighting an old friend and then your older sister...And then your long awaited bounty back to back, quite an emotional rollercoaster, no?" Then he started thinking about the next course of action. He put a hand to his chin and an arm across his chest to contemplate while Alva was slowly recovering. As he was thinking, she had reached into her waist pockets and pulled out a syringe for assisting in the healing process.

After injecting herself, her body felt warm, but she was becoming more fatigued.

After a short time had passed, the unnamed man had an idea. "Because I am not an edge lord, but more like a bastard with a heart of gold, I'll give you...a variation of my words" He chuckled creepily, which worried Alva and made her become more confused by the continuity error of her memory, present observation, and the mixed messages of dialogue and action. The man went to Eirwen's side and whispered something into her ear. Her wolf faunus ears perked up and her eyes widen. Then, she started to approach Alva casually.

Not wanting to find about about what the variation was, Alva attempted to move her partially restored body, but still couldn't due to her lack of stamina. It wasn't until she saw her older sister tower over her did she really was worried of the potential actions that may occur.

Eirwen held her greatsword up, impaled the ground with it, crouched down to her little sister's eye level, embraced her body, then proceeded to shock her to death by kissing her, 'What, the, fuuuuuuck?!' Alva was completely overwhelmed by the sudden development. If the Roi fight didn't break her mental barriers enough, then her sis-con of a sister completely broke down the bastion and pillaged it of all of its faculties. She became weak in her arms and was forced down into the ground by her apparent lust filled sister.

Completely unsure of what to even do, plus her recovery state, Alva was subject to a very lewd demonstration of how much her older sister loved her.

Once her sister was done rummaging her tongue around her mouth, their lips parted and strings of saliva bridged the two tongues. At this point, Alva had reached the breaking point of her understanding of things and was forced to accept the flow as it is, 'This warm feeling I have better be from the syringes'. Eirwen started to suck and bite softy on her sister's neck while gently holding and rubbing her head and holding her arm around Alva's back. The younger wolf faunus was fidgeting and moving around, her heat broke the cold temperature that affected most people, and she was mildly blushing in embarrassment.

While the man was watching attentively, he called out, "Embrace and understand thy darkness, lest be devoured by it~!...Or whatever I said" He lowered his voice on the last bit and then thought 'You know what, I think Alva might get devoured as well in the process' he thought and then internally laughed as he noticed all of the fire being put out "Ah, there's the..." He then noticed how irregularly the fire was dispersed and saw how the temperature dropped dramatically. Also, he took notice on how the camp had gotten quieter and the fires that broke out had become silenced.

His eyes widen deeply as he recognized who the one that did it was, "Ardghal, the frost knight" Fear tempered his voice as he knew exactly why this man was to be feared. He then forgotten how the people within the world of the heart can actually interact with you in some manner. Though, then again, he was apart of the heart as well so he shouldn't be surprised.

A fully armored knight in black silver frosted armor, with the helmet being the most distinguishing feature as it looked more appropriate for jousting, was walking toward the group of three. Behind him, some sort of blue-white wispy pattern following him and they articulated in a fashion like wings or a flowing cape, but with more haunting freedom. The blade in his hand was a black silver longsword which was covered in frost midway on the blade, the grip was covered in some durable dark string wrapped around it and the tang was a hexagon shape with a hole through it. On his side was was black frosted flanged mace with a durable leather strap firmly secured around the bottom, a solid frosted black buckler and a frosted-over metallic knife scabbard which is slightly curved.

With every step he took, the ground below him, if it wasn't already, was frozen over. The surrounding objects that he passed by had frost or ice suddenly covering them. The second he looked up at the plague doctor, he roared out, suddenly came to life, and lunged at him suddenly like a predator to prey "Ah, fu-" He got his cane, flicked his wrist, got his weapon into whip-blade form, and manipulated the angle of attack in an unpredictable manner. Several times in fact.

However, not only did all of the attacks completely glanced off of the Frost Knight's metal armor, but the fact that he was able to adjust his entire body to make the weapon hit the armor, and not the weak spots, was impressive. Plus, the efficiency of the plague doctors manipulated blade whip became less flexible once frost and ice hindered his ability of movement.

The real problem stemmed once the unnamed man used his secret weapon on Ardghal...

"...Of course that happened" The man said blankly as, from the perspective of an outsider, Ardghal seemed to be holding something in his left hand and in his right was his sword which was now inserted into the ground, but whatever it was, the object was invisible. That is, if one didn't look close enough. On close inspection, frost and ice was covering the mysterious appendages and with the sword, the frost knight stabbed several more and had them secured to the ground.

The weapon appendage he had in his left hand was crushed with brute force, the pieces shattered into frozen shards, and he gazed at the plague doctor with a cold stare of pure murder. 'This is why I didn't want to meet him' Before he could move to make his escape, the frozen knight pulled out his flanged mace and struck the ground with it. The ground in front of him quickly froze, resulting in the unnamed man having his legs frozen in place.

Not wanting to become victim to the beast of a knight, the eccentric man used his bladed whip one last time to at least get in one hit. That single movement was completely futile, as the knight menacingly grabbed the weapon's extended mode, shattered and crushed it into tiny shards in his hand, and walked to the struggling opponent.

Once in close proximity, the plague doctor began to become frozen in place by, what was presumably, Ardghal's semblance. The man's legs no longer had any feeling, his blood was becoming colder by the second, and he could swear even his cells and fat reserves, which typically wouldn't freeze over like what is happening now, are becoming frostbitten. If the doctor had any skin showing, then the color had been dropped considerably to a ghostly pale color.

"Heh...I thought knights were supposed to be-" He was about to joke when Ardghal's flanged mace struck the man in the chest. Not only was he sent flying a couple meters, but his legs were still stuck in place. Despite the massive injuries, there was no blood, due to the cold freezing the blood in place. When the unnamed man hit the ground, parts of his equipment had shredded into pieces like paper because of how frozen they had become.

Once he had stopped, the man could feel some sort of warmth again. However, the moment stopped once Ardghal approached him. 'Ugh...I can't feel pain anymore...Or any part of my body really...Are my legs missing?' He couldn't even move his head to check and he looked straight at the bright, snowing sky. 'Ahah...Do you see this Alva? Understand...Who is your enemy...and who isn't...Hah...Look how quickly I got defeated...Can't even talk...Nor think straight...Unexpected, but message came across...' He saw the frost knight loom over him, his shadow covering his view, and his glaring eyes through his oddly shaped helmet 'Ah look, thinking was a free action...That's nice...What took you so long?' He could feel even his heart freezing. The man choked out one last breathe before thinking 'I wonder how she will react once...' The frostbite effect the frosted knight gave out had completely enveloped the opponent in a shell of deep freezing cold.

Then, Ardghal raised his plated foot over the man, then crushed his chest, resulting in his body being shattered into frozen chunks and pieces.

On the other side of the area, Alva was...somewhat still conscious after being sexual assaulted by her older kin. Although her face was filled with questionable contempt, her eyes slightly out of it, and she was drooling a bit, she was partially in the right sense of mind. She had her longcoat and shirt removed, the long bandages wrappings on her [FLAT] chest were disturbed quite a bit, and her pants was slightly pulled down and unzipped and unbuttoned.

Alva had her arms wrapped around her sister's neck while her sister was wrapped around her abdomen. The expression plastered on Eirwen's face was that of great satisfaction and euphoria. Despite the fact she was being fondled and played with by her sister, Alva actually managed to pay some attention to the scene in the background. Near the end of the observation, she thought, 'That man...Did not die ceremoniously at all...All of that hatred I had of him...Why the hell did it all disappear?...Oh right I couldn't take him seriously at all and I wanted to kill him for being an idiot...His personality is so much more different than expected...'

'Your sister is a beauty as well, I would have adored having both of you around if we were close friends' She remember the words he had said at that time, then she realized something 'Someone hired him to kill us...But who?...Now that I think about it...That time a long time ago...From what my clansmen told me...There's a consistency error between what happened here and before...'

When she had stopped thinking, she saw Ardghal in the distance, staring at both her and Eirwen. He dropped his head down slightly and his weapon had lowered a bit. He immediately returned to his initial state, turned his back to them, then walked out of their view...

'This wasn't as bad as I thought...' She was thinking while rubbing her sister's head '...I still have mixed feelings about this...'

At that moment, Alva did not smile from the battle, but she did feel contempt with being...embraced by her sister...

...

...

...

In his left arm, Nuada carried Biehl, the rocket pistol and in his right he carried Berg, the heavy hand cannon magnum. He hid behind his giant cross as cover as his eyes closely scanned the area. The man he was facing, Fechin, was standing still in the middle of the large room. Then, the blacksmith noticed parts of the man's cloak seemingly blowing in the wind, even though the air flowing through the building was stagnant. At a moment's notice, Nuada aimed both of his pistols near of each other at an angle of 35 degrees.

He pulled the trigger on Berg and it caused an earth-shattering sound and flashy spectacle, even deafening its user temporarily. The recoil was insane, even for Nuada, and his hand lifted considerably, but it was still maintained. The full metal jacket bullet flew and instinctively, Fechin attempted to avoid the bullet's initial pathway and he used the majority of his invisible weapons to at least try and split the bullet. However, the bullet was made out of harder material than what Fechin's weapons had.

The silver blacksmith then pulled the trigger on his rocket pistol, there was a delay on the bullet's exit, it barely had any sound, smoke barreled out, and it was aimed at the floor forward of his opponent.

Once the magnum's bullet made contact, the blades were shattered upon impact and the bullet hit its mark. Fechin's knee cap was immediately reduced into pieces, his meat and bones completely torn open, and he was falling as the rocket pistol projectile hit the ground ahead of him. The large explosion made him fly across the room, torn parts of his clothing flew across the air, and he struck one of the stone columns, causing his leg to fly off. He came tumbling down on top of one of wooden tables, where there lay one of the bodies of one of the workshop inhabitants.

When Fechin looked down on his massive knee opening, the pain was recognized by his mind and he immediately grabbed it and screamed out in agonizing pain, then started coughing blood. Not only was it because of the hard impact against the stone column; It was also due to the shrapnel lodged in his chest and abdomen plus the internal damage done by the percussion force of the explosive.

He used his invisible weapon system to tightly wrap around the area above his knee like a tourniquet and he maneuvered his remaining weapon arms to climb up the stone pillars and hide in between them. The blacksmith looked up at the columns to judge where his enemy was at. He holstered Berg and Biehl and brought out the sniper pistol Mosin. The weapon turned into its sniper form and the blacksmith closely eyed the entire area, awaiting even the slightest movement.

He moved his giant cross and adjusted the positioning to have the entire thing lay down on its face. The large man went prone, then decided to bring out Brechen, a weapon which had the appearance of a short barreled single shot lever action shotgun, and the Ingram, a weapon that had the appearance of a certain submachine gun and it had a cord at the front for holding and an extended magazine.

Once and a while, at the floor level, Nuada would fire his weapon when he saw bodies moving and he would either hit the bodies themselves or the wall. Sometimes he would shoot when he heard a sound in a general direction or even when he heard the slightest inkling of his enemy's pained gasps. The man himself was slowly being aggravated and irritated, under the impression that not only was he being toyed with, but also he needed to train his aiming skills again.

'The tension is getting on my nerves' Nuada thought as he was slightly shaking and his finger itching on the trigger. His hand kept nearing his weapon Brechen, under the impression that he was about to be attacked from straight above. Or maybe, his opponent was throwing him off by throwing objects to create noise to catch his attention. Many things were going through his mind right now until he finally saw Fechin's form in the corner of his observing eye.

He immediately shifted his sniper rifle's positioning, looking through the scope, and was about to fire when he saw all of the guns he had around him, "Shit!" He fired a single shot, reached for his cross, and then suffered the pain of being shot multiple times with different calibers of firearms.

Multiple grazing shots on his head, legs, and arms; his abdomen was pierced several times, his left eye was hit, and his right arm's long sleeve was torn beyond belief because he was covering his chest and neck. What was under his long sleeve was a well-crafted and maintained metal arm. Nuada glared with his one eye from behind his cross, his metal arm lifting the symbol of fine craftsmanship in front of him, and he came to a conclusion.

He sighed deeply, the pain was throbbing and circulating all across his body, but he completely trudged through the wounds like it was second nature and he lifted his Redeemer at all of the stone pillars. At that open moment, Fechin began to weave and move in-between the monumental cover while firing salvo's of bullets at Nuada, many of them hitting their mark spot on, but still did not force the tank of a man down; Even when he was bleeding numerous amounts of blood.

He did not grin or grimaced, did not taunt nor even spoke, the man was dead set to take down one of the turning points of his life down into a carcass. The bullets that struck the stone masonry did noticeable damage, but still not enough to bring entire pillars down, if anything, the pillars withstood the damage surprisingly well; A testament to the Massif Workshops pride in masonry work, a bit excessive to say the least.

Bullets of many shapes and sizes kept falling to the ground, their clanging echoing in conjunction to the weapons being fired. As this fight was turning into a battle of attrition and remaining bullets, a couple people were watching from afar, completely hidden from the two fighters. Those people was a long red pony tailed haired man in a wheel chair in thick blacksmith clothing, with gasmask on him, and a blonde dutch haired young female in a blacksmith dress, who also had a gasmask on, had a weapon rifle strapped to her back, the átfogó. The version she wielded had the base weapon mode of a sniper rifle.

"Ruadh?" The blonde female questioned, with no worry in her tone

"Aye?" He replied as he was focusing on how the two were fighting

"Who do you think will win? Nuada or Fechin?"

"Hm...Carina...I would say...The one who gives out first" He cynically stated as he looked at the spectacle in front of him "Carina?" Ruadh had looked back at his companion, who had brought out her sniper rifle. She aimed truly and followed the movements of Fechin and was about to fire when she asked,

"Should I assist?" The red haired man gestured his hand to stand down,

"No...No...Nuada can hold his own now...We just watch..." Carina lowered her weapon and carried the weapon again with the rifle sling. The two of them watched ahead at the reckless battle..."He's even more durable than I remember..."

At one point, after filling each other with bullets, each one actually ran out of ammunition in their main weaponry. Several times, Fechin was bleeding out profusely from the heavy damage the cross dealt, even missing his right arm and having his weapon system tied around the stub to prevent prevent bleeding out. Nuada, with the amount of bullets which went in him, was so high in number that a normal man would've died many times.

Fechin was breathing out heavily and even throwing up blood from the progressive damage on his stomach and other internal organs. His movements dulled and slowed as his weapon systems had perished and given out. He fell high from the ceiling and crashed down upon the stone bloodied floor. From the impact, his weapon system broke, but his make-shift tourniquets still held strongly.

Nuada slowly approached the damage opponent. His cross dragging across the stone ground weakly, his legs stiff and weak, arms throbbing, eyes blurring, and the feeling that his body was going to fall apart lingered above him. Once he was looming above the man, Nuada choked out, "In the name of those who had fallen..." It took a while, but Fechin, despite being the injured spirit he was, grabbed his plague mask with his weak fingers, forcibly pulled it off the best he could, and his dead eyes looked at Nuada. For a second, color returned back to his irises,

"We...continue" What what plastered on his face was the slightly grinning face of a man who had been freed. Nuada weakly leaned on his cross then hit the ground on his knees. He kept bleeding, even on the corpse of his old comrade,

"Hah...What a way to desecrate the dead..." He coughed out blood, but it was away from Fechin "I knew it...I knew it..." He slung his head down as his consciousness drifts away. Carina rolled Ruadh up to the bodies of the two fighters as the sun-set lighting that was once shining through the room was now turning its way to night...

...

...

...

"What do you want?" The other side of Lloyd questioned as Ciara looked him dead in the eyes,

"What I want to know is who you are" The unnamed other Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose then had his attention wander to the sky,

"Typically, most people would've attempted to beat the evil or darkness up half to death already" He turned his focus back on Ciara "So why aren't you attacking?"

"Lloyd never mentioned anything about you-" The unnamed person pointed at Ciara's mask then to his face,

"Said the one who didn't want to tell what the mask's purpose was...Which was a stupid decision nonetheless, but it was inevitable considering it was you who he was with" Ciara opened her mouth, but the boy held his hand out to silence her "Don't expect me to inform you of the context, pretext, or whatever, figure it out yourself, or get Lloyd to explain it to you" Then he remembered her opening statement, "Ah, I forgot, my manners" He did a little bow "I have many names, before I became one with Lloyd, I was feared, respected even, and hated. After being with Lloyd, he gave me my name, well two; Lilla and Leofwine, don't ask why those two particular names"

"How ingrained in Lloyd are you?" He tapped his chest and replied,

"If he dies, I die, if he becomes broken, I become broken, we are practically one of the same...Except I have all of the emotions and Lloyd...Well he's Lloyd" He had his head held down before sharply piercing Ciara with his eyes, "And that's why I'm a bit miffed, your influence had an effect, though I don't blame you for not knowing, Lloyd is quite forgiving after all..." He went to a nearby tree and sat against it, "That ability you have, is quite an interesting one, if a little bit suicidal to use, especially for those around you" He had his arms cast out "But it was such a nice coincidence that you had a moonlight member and the Mei company guys nearby or else this moment of emotional selfish nature would've been a lot more tragic and hectic" He was grinning wildly "I mean, you have existed for quite a long time, you would think you would learn a thing or two about consulting your allies, or whatever..." He suddenly went near Ciara with his face directly in front of hers "Though I have to be grateful that Lloyd didn't have to suffer anymore and you actually see the core"

Leofwine was walking away from Ciara when he realized, "Whoops, I didn't truly explain myself" He turned on his heels and pointed his thumb to himself "The balance between the two of us is hard to explain, but it is in equilibrium, that is, before you came along" Ciara looked at him, was about to say something in protest, but she was slowly figuring out the reasoning for Leofwine's distress, "First, I get drowned out by Lloyd's thought process" He started to speak quicker, and he was holding his head "Then I became more blind to the world and his heart, my taste for blood and despair rose beyond the damn limit, and I wanted to steal Lloyd's being for myself" He was clenching his teeth "That time, I regretted, but the feeling was horrifyingly euphoric, it felt like the powerful Lloyd was reduced to a small little child whom I could do whatever with" He looked at Ciara with blood-rending pupils "Just by being near you, you..." He clenched his eyes closed and he took a deep breathe.

The boy suddenly returned back to his original state, though his eyes were still blood-shot and his mouth had blood running from it, "Still, Lloyd does not blame you, only himself, the damned blind, dense, overthinking fool" He held his hand out in pure truce and little malice, "In all honesty, with how much time I spent with him, I would like to save him as well...We had fun times and we both changed each other" Dubiously, Ciara grabbed Leofwine's hand and she lifted up her scythe,

"If you don't mind, I would like to-"  
"I'm sure Lloyd would enjoy your company too, the man has had too many passing companions...However!" He grabbed Ciara by her collar and pressed his forehead up against hers, and attempted to strike a lasting fear on her, "If this happens again...I don't care who you are, what you are, or how much power you have within you...I...Will...Kill you! Understand!?" Ciara complied without any hesitation nor flinching. Leofwine breathed in and out, then wiped his forehead,

"I see that in the time you and Lloyd have been traveling together, it seemed to been in good pace. I wish you good luck, but I will still keep my word" Both of them relinquished each others hands and Ciara lifted her scythe high into the air. In one fell swoop, her blade landed directly on Leofwine and the entire word crumbled out of existence...

...

...

...

A middle aged dark-skinned Sable faunus woman with a black ponytail, wearing olive green workman jumpsuit, approached the area where Nuada's group had fallen. She shifted her khaki work hat up to see the injured body of Leonard and Bayard, plus the broken states of Alby and Chloe, and the passive state of Nuada. Her rounded glasses reflected light off of the blinding white snow which was both partially melted, but still frozen over. She walked up to Leonard, who was now coughing and pounding his stomach, and looked over him while crossing her arms.

Leonard lifted his hand up and sputtered out, "I know, I know, you don't have to say it" After he was done coughing out blood and various liquids, he searched for one of his flasks and the insignia he grabbed on the way out of Bayard's memory. When he pulled out the flask, it was void of any substance and he couldn't find the symbol of the inquisition. He visibly expressed his disappointment, if a little exaggerated

"So I can receive massive injuries from a memory, but I can't drag objects through it, how fair is that?" The woman cocked her head and looked at him in confusion, but decided to not ask for context,

"You have everything handled over here?" She looked at the other two, who were somewhat still in their own little nightmare. Leonard pulled out yet another flask, went to all four of them, and forced down the drink down their throats. He looked back at the woman and saluted,

"Aye Aye Sable" He made a heart warming smile and the woman pressed her hand against her head while shaking it,

"If you would've waited, then we wouldn't have wasted some damn time" She walked past him and began to tread over to the epicenter of where the 'field of despair' first started. Leonard was following her when she shifted her head to the side and mentioned, "Ah, right, don't worry about those three, the medical specialists will pick them up..." Then she mumbled "Hopefully"...

...

...

...

 **And now this part of the story is closing, with some paths being opened up. What will happen in the future of this story? Well who knows, just hope that I don't die of a heart attack, become stuck in writing hiatus hell, or become stuck in lazy man territory...**

 **Seriously, is this Fanfiction even good? The lack of reviews is kind of...Well...It helps to get the feedback of readers, whether it's a pat on the back or a straight review depicting all of the things I had done right and the shortcomings. Seriously...Anyone?...**

 **The peanut gallery was silent, not a single soul spoke, even the dead was silent.**

 **"God dang it"**

...

...

...

Facts about Alva's clan of hunters:

The main reason why none of them are carrying transformation weapons is because of the environmental conditions they are in. If they were to utilize transformation weaponry, then more likely or not the cold will make the metal compress and the frost would render the moving parts to jam or not even move. Yes they can in fact make the weapons out of cold resistance materials, however, remember, these people are nomads and would rather not do high maintenance on their weaponry.

Though despite that they have crank operated Gatling guns...Of all things...

The best part about the clan is their lack of faunus racism or discrimination, and the reasoning?

"Hate the despicable and those who actually want you dead and is, by nature, the enemy of mankind. To hate someone simply because they are different, then you are despicable, a person deserving of disdain, and an asshole who is need of a backpfeifengesicht"

-An Old Hunter

Also this reasoning:

"Hate creates more hate, this is both proven and observed by many. By hating those people who are different, discriminating them, stereotyping, and in short putting them down, you send them toward the breaking point. Those who are in desperate situations, or have poison ingrained in their hearts, will resort to crime. Then, the people who sent these people toward this point fulfill their confirmation bias and then hate everyone of that particular race even more.

Remember that there will always be extremists, hypocrites, ignorant [bastards], and discrimination. That's just how diversity of people works, just never, no matter what, generalize and hold up that generalization like it was truth"

-An Old Wanderer

If anyone forgot, the top members are as follows: (Extra information added in) *Note this is from the perspective of someone who is outside the clan*

 **Bram the Blood Leper -** Head of the medical division of the clan. His ways of the medical field are quite impressive, especially when it comes to . It has been said that Bram had the talent to manipulate blood and that in the past he was ostracized and lynched for human experimentation (And his appearance). However, this is just a rumor (Except the appearance part) though his title 'Blood Leper' does not help. And yes, he does have Leprosy.

 **Roi the blind executioner -** In charge of training, part of the scouting, stealth, and recon division, the hunting party, and a poet. It is because of his abilities that he is, technically, the most skilled individual in the group. In fact, it has been said that if you win against him, he let you win. Before Roi joined up, apparently, he used to be a shepard...How being a shepard translated into a blind badass is left to the imagination.

 **Ardghal the frost knight -** The one they bring out if things go horribly wrong. I only heard warnings about this person, such as: Fighting this knight results in death; You will die; You will melt back into the earth; and, of course, you will die...Literally the only thing of significance I've heard was that the reasoning why he has a helmet, which restricts his vision greatly, is because of snow blindness (He hailed from a land of frozen wastes, according to what some had said)

It has been rumored that the 'Ghostly winter cloak' that follows Ardghal is actually his soul leaking out of his armor because "No one has ever seen him outside his armor; even when he is sleeping, that is, if we could tell if he was sleeping or not"

Speaking of which, it has been theorized that Ardghal is an undead...For reasons left to the imagination...

 **Conn of the highlands -** In charge of the cultural aspects, music, morale, and, most importantly, the one who knows how to make good alcohol. Before being a member of the hunters, Conn has been a part of a group known as "The Highlanders", a group which can only be described as: Freedom, alcohol, kilts, and bagpipes...And men who could lift trees and throw them at you...Not much can be said about Conn...Aside from being one of the head Chieftain of the highlands and that you do not out drink him.

 **Elva the Warrior saint -** In charge of the religious and spiritual aspects of the clan, plus some morale. It's not what you think though, mainly because the religious and spiritual part refers to building up aura, being in tune with the world itself, and basically preaching "Be individually strong and be strong with others" and also the encouragement of following your own path, being strong in your own way, and etc, etc. **  
**

Also her weapon is, appropriately, a big metal cross. Unfortunately, it does not transform.

 **Eachann the Rider -** The head of the scouting party, messengers, and animal taming (Specifically horses, but he also dabbles in other races). The horse he rides is named Philip and you do not mess with the horse. According to actual reports, Philip can hold off Grimm, bandits, and other hunters on his own and has been known to defy the laws of physics on occasion...Such as climbing steep mountains. Out of every person, Eachann has been in the wilderness for the longest period of time and has the most experience against Grimm and people.

He's even equipped with a box of counter-measures for everything.

 **Eirwen the war dancer -** The head of weapon maintenance and construction. A pure definition of deadly, yet beautiful. There has been word that Eirwen was originally a person from a prestigious background, but I couldn't find confirmation on this particular tidbit, unless prestigious refers to respect, not riches. There was one thing I heard though which was quite interesting.

Eirwen was in a relationship with someone in the group, which one is unconfirmed, but she indeed is in bed with someone.


	7. Chapter 7: Bad news and Happiness

**-Unfortunate News-**

Due to the lack of people reading this story (Which now I can concur that people just don't like it based on how many views it has) the next chapter will be the last chapter because it appears I messed up early on. Or people just hate it. As such, this story may be overhauled severely or it may be re-written on another website to become its own thing; Who knows.

For those people who actually did enjoy this story, I am terribly sorry. Especially considering all of the loose ends, open paths, and potential world building that may have all been for naught.

Ah...Quite unfortunate, no? I may be a little bit selfish, but...Whatever happens, happens.

 **-News End-**

 **-Discovery-**

I didn't realize this at first, for some reason, but now I know why people don't like this story: The OC's.

Original Character's apparently have a stigma in the fanfiction community due to several reasons.

1: Readers are here because they want to read about their favorite characters. Typically, they are not interested in getting to know the OC's, even if they are well written, interesting, or aren't 2 dimensional cardboard cut-outs and actually have depth.

2: Original Character's are often correlated to bad writing...Even if the writing is actually good. (Yes I do realize I practically repeated part of what I said)

3: The original character interfering with fandoms, pairings, etc...Actually in this case the pairing part isn't an issue.

4: In the world of fanfiction, people who read the fanfic usually will have a good understanding of the world already, the character's, their backstories, etc. By applying Original Character's who have a particular impact, or by introducing elements to the story not native to the original canon (In this case, adding different workshops, factions, etc.) it disrupts the flow and can break the imagination of a reader.

As such, I may have sounded pretentious or naive when I stated somewhere or questioned why people aren't reading this story. Oddly enough, I practically did answer my own question earlier by presenting possibly reasoning why this story is not well-liked.

In the future, after learning about the actual art of fanfiction, my next story (If I completely abandon this current one) will have learned from my previous mistake.

With the end of this message, I bid you good day...

...In the middle of trying to be different, I fell into a hole that kept getting farther from the sun the more I try to dig down unwittingly...

 **-Extra Optional Reading-**

If you made it to this point, you would realize I am not one to write short chapters (Relatively speaking) as such, this is a piece of the story which I hope my loyal readers may enjoy...Of those who remained with me...

Within a place, not of the four kingdoms, there was a fairly sized stone and wood cabin in the middle of a lush forest. By the side of it, there was a large mountain range and occasionally, if you have good eyesight, and you could spot man-made structures and giant cave entrances on the face. The current time of day was a cloudy, but still luminous morning.

A young, petite woman, with well kept blonde hair and lime-green eyes, and quite a cute face, was returning back to the cabin carrying a reinforced back basket filled with herbs, plants, and vegetables. On the basket were hooks which had nets with fish and burlap sacks with the captured game of rabbits and similar small animals.

Once she had entered through the door, she greeted, "Ruadh, I'm back!" She set the heavy luggage down, shut the door, and went to the kitchen area with the assortment of plants. The kitchen itself was well-crafted with wooden furniture and decoration, plus well-put cobble stone which added more to the homely atmosphere. She separated the assortment of plants into different stacks, brought up cutting boards, various shaped bowls, and specialized tools.

The entire time, she hummed a little tune that was in a similar type one would hear from a folk song and smiled a tiny bit.

The entire process of the cutting, mashing, churning, mixing, and crushing resulted in a multitude of medicinal concoctions and homemade spices. With the remaining vegetables available, she brought in the caught fish and game and started to dissect, gut, and stock the wildlife. She turned on the oven, got water from the sink, which the water actually came from piping going from the mountains and a nearby water source, and started cooking.

In the end, the woman crafted a well-done assortment of food with spices and certain numbers of vegetables adorning and completing the cooked and cut animal meat. Their fat glistened in the light and the smell was intoxicating delicious. She organized the assortment of food well on the table and she grabbed the medicinal herbs, glasses of water, and some of the master-level cooking on a tray toward a particular room in the abode.

"Ruadh?" Carina peeked her eye through the crack of the door and spotted a closed eyed red haired man on the bed. She quietly sneaked in, set the tray down carefully on a nearby desk, looked over the man, and took in his sleeping face 'He can look so cute while he's sleeping' She wrapped her arms around the man, held him tightly, and pressed her head against his.

'Let her have this moment...Control your breathing and heartbeat...' Ruadh was thinking as he felt the warm embrace of his close companion. Carina remained in this snuggling state when she finally relinquished her embrace and grabbed the tray,

"I know you're awake Ruadh" She smiled. The bed-ridden man slowly opened his eyes, cricked his neck slightly, and looked at his caretaker,

"I'm awake now if that's what you mean" Carina merely giggled at his remark. She pulled up a chair, set the tray down on her lap and began to feed him. Albeit a little like a child,

"Say ah~" Ruadh stared blankly at the running gag Carina continuously did, though despite his current expression, he sometimes enjoyed it. However it was once the spoon entered his mouth that his current mood became bitter. Immediately, the medicinal herb was washed down with water and Carina had holding onto a fork that had the wondrous meat Ruadh smelled outside the room.

Once the food entered his mouth, the bitter aftertaste was washed off with an explosion of flavor, tender meat that seemingly melted in his mouth, and the brilliant lasting after effect of the food.

The process of being fed continued until Carina exhausted all of the food on the tray. "Rest well" Her warm smiled lowered just a wee bit, but the bed ridden Ruadh knew his closest friend enough to know even the slightest change.

Later on, a relatively large group of horse caravans, that was following a single well-bred strong brown horse and his rider, had arrived at the humble abode in the middle of the forest. The aged Rider was wearing an all khaki colored clothing with strong boots, cargo pants, green undershirt and a cloak with a lot of pockets, bags, and small satchels. Carrying behind him was a large metal rectangular box which looked to have been worn from use but had also demonstrated its reliability with strength. The horse was also outfitted with an equal amount of storage space.

Another man came from out back from one of the caravans. This person was Bram, the Blood Leper.

The two of them walked up to the door and the masked man knocked first. Eventually, Carina opened the door a tinge and peeked through. Seeing that it was the ones whom she was expected, she opened the door wide open and welcomed them to enter. The both complied, walked through the entrance, and took a gander at the interior's craftsman ship.

"Quite impressive" The rider noted. The leper nodded in agreement and the both were escorted to Ruadh's room. After entering, Bram wanted the two to leave the room for privacy. When the extra company left, he pulled out his equipment and started to fully examine Ruadh's body in all of its medical glory.

'Muscle deterioration in the legs and upper body, severe mostly in the legs, skeletal deformities in the spine, fatigue...' He looked at Ruadh and calmly said,

"How long were you resting in bed?"

"Just for today; The wheelchair broke so I had to lay here while Carina was repairing it" Bram nodded his head while crossing his arms,

"Hm, that's good, too much inactivity would make your condition worse, though I assume you knew that already" He pulled out an assortment of bags and pulled out a multitude of various tools. He then pulled out a clean empty syringe "I would need a bit of your blood, if you don't mind"

"You're the doctor, I don't doubt your skills" Bram inserted the needle in Ruadh's arm and said,

"How many doctors passed through your hands?"

"Many" After getting the samples needed, Bram was in the middle of synthesizing the blood in accordance to his equipment calibrating when he commented,

"I remembered that Eachann was talking about how Carina had been wanting to marry you since she was young" Ruadh nodded his head and chuckled,

"At this point, we might as well be" Bram lifted his head up and reported,

"When you guys officially marry each other, do you want to walk right with your loved one up to the alter?" Ruadh looked at Bram with widened eyes "And before you say, yes we indeed did" The blood leper had analyzed Ruadh's blood and was now carefully adjusting the proteins, calcium, and vitamins "Even if it is temporary, you will be able to stand at the alter with your dearest"

...

...

...

From that day, a week had passed. Bram administered a specific flow of proteins, plus very special blood transfusion, in order to restore at least the appearance and some muscle functioning. Not only that, but from the Caravan was supplies to create a set up an outside wedding reception with all of the people to attend.

Even a master of bio-mechanical engineering and another who knew how electrical nerve impulses and neutral science worked was brought in to get Ruadh to be able to move. Of course this was done in secret.

For a week, Carina had been anticipating the official inauguration between her and Ruadh. So much so, she actually got tired from a lack of sleep for a day or two. All of the participants of the wedding were hunters of some sort and not only prepared for the wedding in quick efficiency but also cleared out every single Grimm imaginable within the surrounding area. Some sniper posts were even set up with sniper rifles akin to 50 calibers watching the sky in order to ensure the wedding passed by.

For some extra flair, some mortars were set up with not only actual live ammunition, but fireworks as well.

The day for the wedding had initiated at the dead of night. The engineer just so happened to bring along an AI system with him and set up the sniper rifles in a way where it automatically shot anything within physical capability to be shot in order to bring even the lonely snipers to the party. Every hunter was sitting in their seat quietly, all of them carrying some form of flower and holstered gun, and was watching the walk way. None of them wore suits due to their collective dislike of them so they were all wearing casual clothing.

At the alter, there was a female snow deer faunus in white robes with an open book and a metal cross residing next to her. As everyone was silent, Carina was holding in her excitement as she was walking down the alter with Eachann leading her. Almost every single male in the reception, and a few females, looked at the female with admiration with much she seemed to shine and how cute she looked. Once she had made it to the alter, the next to come up was Ruadh, who was walking with one of the only people who wore suits and had weird gloves on, and Bram, who was moving a wheelchair behind the groom.

The second Carina saw Ruadh walk for the first time in years, she burst out tears of joy. Once Ruadh had made it to the alter, she had faced Carina and said, "Don't cry now, we haven't even begun" The man controlling the nerves and body movement of the groom and manipulated his arm and hand motions to pat the bride on the head and ruffle it up. Once the nostalgia struck the blonde haired childhood friend, her face contorted into blissful enjoyment as she hug Ruadh's body tightly. Ruadh hugged her back and remained there until she decided to remove herself from him. This didn't happen for quite a while, but everyone who waited were still, but those who knew the history between the two had their heart strings plucked.

When Carina had renounced her hold onto Ruadh, the betrothing commenced.

The priest, Elva, cleared her throat and spoke in an encompassing voice, and a man with white cords came up to the alter,

"Ruadh and Carina, know now before you go further, that since your lives have crossed in this life, you have formed eternal and sacred bonds. As you seek to enter this state of matrimony you should strive to make real the ideals that to you, give meaning this ceremony and to the institution of marriage." There was a pause "With full awareness, know that within this circle, you are not only declaring your intent to be hand fasted before your friends and family, but you speak that intent also to your creative higher powers. The promises made today and the ties that are bound here greatly strengthen your union and will cross the years and lives of each soul's growth" There was a pause "Do you still seek to enter this ceremony?"

"Yes" The both of them had said,

"Ruadh and Carina, I bid you look into each others eyes"

The both complied and the both of them saw the emotions swimming in their faces and eyes.

"Will you honor and respect one another, and seek to never break that honor?"

"We will" The both of them said as the first cord is draped over their hands

"And so the first binding is made" There was a short pause "Will you share each other's pain and seek to ease it?"

"We will" The second cord is draped over their hands

"And so the binding is made" Another short pause "Will you share the burdens of each so that your spirits may grow in this union?"

"We will" The third cord is draped over the couples' hands

"And so the binding is made" Another short pause "Will you share each other's laughter, and look for the brightness in life and the positive in each other?"

"We will" The forth cord is draped over the couples' hands

"And so the binding is made" The cords were tied together and their bond was sealed.

"Ruadh and Carina, as your hands are bound together now, so your lives and spirits are joined in a union of love and trust. Above you are the stars and below you is the earth. Like the stars you love should be a constant source of light, and like the earth, a firm foundation from which to grow" The priest had continued talking into another section of vows, "I, Ruadh, take thee, Carina, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part; and thereto I pledge myself to you." She closed the book, closed her eyes, then stated "You may now kiss the bride"

Not a heartbeat missed, Carina took the initiative and kissed Ruadh deeply in the lips. The both of them held each other as every single member of the congregation stood up, went far away from each other, then pulled out their guns. Just as when the mortars fired the fireworks, everyone fired in a pattern, the Wedding march music. The fireworks lifted from the ground and struck the night sky, leading a display of amazing memories being shaped.

Just as the two were finished kissing, the nerve connections between Ruadh and the puppeteer were severed and he fell back into his chair. Just as the man fell back, Carina picked Ruadh up and looked straight into his eyes while smiling the brightest she had ever done with streams of tears rolling down her face. As Carina was carrying her lover off, all of the hunters threw their flowers.

Some of the hunters came from different workshops and factions, as such, some of them brought out small banners and some even held out their emblems in congratulation to the wedding.

The after party was well established with great food and drinks, some created by Carina herself, and the bride and groom joined the party after spending an hour inside the home.

Ruadh, as an ex-blacksmith and gunsmith of high regard, showed off his early weaponry to people who were weapon freaks and somehow ended up becoming the life of the party after a few powerful mind-numbing drinks.

Carina sometimes spoke with the people who hailed from different parts of the world, even getting some information about them, other factions, and the world itself, plus shared weapon and armor schematics.

On that night, it had been said that a horse had been flying across the sky and moon with someone riding on it. Even more surprisingly, those who knew Bram recalled him actually enjoying himself for the first time in a long while...

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...

After that night, the couple received their gifts for a happy life, a lot of them consisting of impressive items; some were novelty and some had very useful purposes. The party had ended, the place was cleaned up, and the caravan was clear to leave. The happy couple waved the guests farewell and everyone else gave their condolences, waving back, some even sobbing out their contained emotions...

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...

Occasionally, some of the guests who attended the wedding would send messengers to check and see if the happy couple was still active (Even though they received extremely quality scrolls) Some even sent waivers for them to join one of the four kingdoms and give shelter from the world outside, but they refused to move. Eventually, some hunters were even obliged to go to where the couple resided, created a permanent housing there along with several others, and set up shop. Some of their excuses included, "We're not here to protect you or anything, we just like the location and the potential gain here..."

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The mountain had been reestablished and lived in again and a very strong diverse community had been developed in the world outside of the walls of the kingdoms...Ruadh and Carina's love had never faltered even once since that day...


End file.
